"Duty, father?" Fanny did not comprehend the meaning of his words.
"It is the duty of all men to thoroughly comprehend what they are doing, and to see that their business is well conducted at every point."
"I did not before understand that you had business in that distant country," said Fanny.
"I am largely interested there," replied Mr. Markland, speaking as though the admission to her was half-extorted.
"Not with Mr. Lyon, I hope?" said Fanny, quickly and earnestly. It was the first time she had mentioned his name since the day his cold allusion to her had nearly palsied her heart.
"Why not with Mr. Lyon, my child? Do you know any thing in regard to him that would make such a connection perilous to my interest?" Mr. Markland looked earnestly into the face of his daughter. Her eyes did not fall from his, but grew brighter, and her person became more erect. There was something of indignant surprise in the expression of her countenance.
"Do you know any thing in regard to him that would make the connection perilous to my interest?" repeated Mr. Markland.
"Will that man be true to the father, who is false to his child?" said Fanny, in a deep, hoarse voice.
He looked long and silently into her face, his mind bewildered by the searching interrogatory.
"False to you, Fanny!" he at length said, in a confused way. "Has he been false to you?"