Cydonia scrambled up with more speed than grace, retreating to the landing with a shamed cry:
"Father!"
McTaggart, honestly taken aback, sat there, dazed, finding no reply.
For Cadell was almost beside himself.
Cydonia to him was more than a daughter; she was the ideal of his work-a-day life: the crowning proof of his money's worth.
In the depths of his parental heart love was tinged with awe—the emotion he felt before a masterpiece.
That a man should dare ... under his own roof ... to hold her in his arms—to kiss her untouched mouth! Here was sacrilege. He shook McTaggart, his social veneer cracking apart.
"Now, then, sir—haven't you a tongue? How dare you come here—into my house—and treat my girl like a...?"
"Silence!"
The young man was on his feet, his face very white, his blue eyes aflame.