"Let us have it over then, Daisy. Who is it that has stolen you from me?"
"Oh no one, papal" I cried. "No one could. No one can."
"Who has tried, then?"
"A great many people, papa; but not this person."
"How has it come to pass then, my pet? And who is this person?"
"Papa, it came to pass without anybody's knowing it or meaning it; and when I knew it, then I could not help it. But not what you say has come to pass; nobody has stolen or could steal me from you."
"I have only lost, without any other being the gainer," said papa a little bitterly.
"No, papa, you have not lost; you cannot; I am not changed, papa, do you not see that I am not changed? I am yours, just as I always was, - only more, papa."
Papa kissed me, but it cut me to the heart to feel there was pain in the kiss. I did what my lips could to clear the pain away.
"Half is not as much as the whole, Daisy," he said at length.