“My dear child!—darling!” reaching out and taking her hand, when a full minute had elapsed and she had not spoken. “You are not afraid of your dear old grandpa. Will you not trust him fully?”
“Yes, yes!” the noble girl answered. She started to her feet, and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him; then having resumed her seat, she looked frankly, trustfully up, and added: “Ask me what you please, dear grandpa, and I will answer if I can.”
“Cordelia! your generous tone, your entire readiness to answer, tells me that I, too, should be generous and confess to you my source of information. It was Matthew who put the thought into my mind, and he did it most unkindly.”
“I knew it, dear grandpa. He taunted me, or he meant to do so, and he made terrible threats, but they do not frighten me. They did at first, but they do not now. Dear, dear old grandpa,” she cried impulsively, after a short silence, at the same time grasping his arm with both her hands, “would you, could you ask me to marry with Lord Oakleigh?”
“Oh, my soul, no!”
“Did my father ever express a wish that I should marry with him?”
“No; he never did.”
“Do you believe he would have allowed such a thing had he been living?”
“I know very well he would not have allowed it. So, my child, do you borrow no trouble because of your refusal of his suit.”
“Grandpa, do you believe he loves me?”