"Miss Lambert is looking quite herself again," said Glynn, his imagination too full of her to resist speech.
"She is," returned her father. "That is because I am brighter; but I am not out of the wood yet—not yet." He was silent for a moment or two, puffing vigorously while he thought. "Ay!—many an anxious thought she costs me. I'd give a good deal—all I possess, life itself, to know she was safe and in better hands than mine. Glynn, I am going to prove the confidence I have in you. We are men of the world, and can talk to each other without fear of misunderstanding."
"It's coming at last," thought Glynn. "You may be sure that anything you like to tell is safe with me," he said aloud.
"I know it." He rose, lifted the curtain which hung across the doorway leading to Elsie's little study, assured himself it was unoccupied and the outer door shut. Then he resumed his seat, and placing his arms on the table leant towards Glynn, and began in a low voice, which, as he plunged deeper into his subject, grew clearer and louder. "Look here, now, I don't see why, when I am in Rome, I shouldn't do as Rome does. I know you'll meet me in my own spirit. If you like what I am going to propose, well and good; if not, there's no harm done. First of all I suppose I am right in concluding you are not married—that you are free and independent?"
"I am," said Glynn, greatly surprised.
"Then what do you say to settling yourself? You are old enough. You are six or seven-and-thirty, I guess. Now, if you are so disposed, I'd die happy if I saw you married to my Elsie!"
Glynn started at this bold proposition; yet gazing at the eager eyes, the earnest face, the slight nervous twitch in the lips which had just uttered it, he felt strangely moved.
"Don't answer all at once," continued Lambert; "I calculate there's a goodish bit more to be said on the subject. I know this sort of thing isn't our fashion, but I am too uneasy about—ah! about the future, to wait for the chance of my jewel meeting the right man, and life is uncertain—mine especially. I wouldn't give her to you empty-handed, either."
"Why, Lambert, you take my breath away! In the first place I don't fancy Miss Lambert ever wasted a thought on me, except as to how far I might be of use to you."
"I know that; I am sure of it. If I thought she was in love with you I don't think I could speak out like this. No, love hasn't come into her heart yet, and you are too much a high-minded gentleman to try and rouse it; but she could love well; and look here, I have saved up and invested nearly five thousand pounds—I'll make it five full—that would be a nice lift to whatever business you are in. You see how I trust you. I don't care if you have a struggle; Elsie is no foolish, extravagant doll."