She started from his unfolding arms, sitting suddenly erect, her face as white as a snow-flake at the proposition.
“Does the idea startle you so, my own? It is so sudden, I know; but would it not be best for our mutual happiness?”
“And papa—would be left behind entirely alone,” she said, thoughtfully.
“Only for a short time, dearest. I shall return as soon as I can arrange my business there to do so, even if I have to go back afterward. Perhaps by that time Mr. Dalton will look at matters in a different light from what he does now,” Earle urged.
Editha heaved a long sigh that meant a good many things.
“Earle, I would like it so much,” she said, sorrowfully, after a long and thoughtful pause, “both the going to Europe, where I have always longed to go, and—being your wife; but——”
His arms clasped her more tightly at that word of doubt.
“Must there be a ‘but?’” he whispered.
“I am afraid there must,” and her hand went up to his face with a caressing motion. “Perhaps if I stay and wait I may be able to win papa over to our way of thinking. At any rate, I must strive for peace with him. It will not be so very long, will it, Earle?”
“I cannot tell, dear, exactly how long. I may have to be gone six months; I do not think it can possibly take any longer than that to decide my case.”