“You did not love him, you say, Viola; then why did you lead him to believe that you did? Why did you flirt with the poor young fellow till he felt sure of you, and ventured to lay his honest heart at your feet?” angrily.
“Papa, no man has a right to be sure of a woman’s heart until he has asked for it and been answered,” she replied, uneasily, seeing that he was in deadly earnest.
“You are wrong,” he answered, earnestly. “A true man and woman, when truly in love, may always be sure of each other. The woman may always show her preference without brushing the bloom from her modesty. All honor to her for doing so, and everlasting shame for pretending what she does not feel for the poor triumph of rejecting him at the last.”
Judge Van Lew’s scathing words sank into his daughter’s soul, and she hid her burning face in her hands, trying to stem the torrent of his reproaches by faltering:
“Really, papa, I meant no harm. I was simply kind to him. I could not tell him to go away because I saw he was learning to love me, could I? And, besides,” hopefully, “you—you would have been furious if I had accepted him, you know you would. He is only a government clerk, you know, and I—have refused a senator, a general, some millionaires—and others,” proudly.
He knew that what she said was true. He would not have accepted George Merrington for a son-in-law. He was proud, but withal he was just, and justice ranged him on the side of the discarded suitor.
He answered reproachfully:
“Subterfuge will not help you, Viola; for a good woman can always find a way to dismiss a man before the affair reaches the point of a proposal, unless the man is a fool and can not read her face; and George Merrington was no fool, though he acted like a madman afterward. You simply coquetted with him, led him on by encouraging smiles and words, just for the amusement of the moment. Is this not true?”
“Yes, papa; but I meant no harm. I did not regard it as a serious matter at all. Plenty of girls do the same,” said Viola, frankly, trying to smile him into a good humor.
But he remained portentously grave, as he returned: