Her face flushed slightly as she answered,—
“I was not aware that I appeared any happier when in his society than on any other occasion.”
“It is upon that very point that I desire to speak to you,” he went on in a low serious tone. “You will remember that before we left Stratfield Mortimer, I gave you a few words of kindly advice regarding an impossible lover with whom you had foolishly become infatuated.”
“Yes,” she said, “I well remember.”
“Then it is upon the subject of your marriage that I want again to say a few words to you.”
“Marriage!” she laughed. “Why, I shall not marry for years yet, dear old dad. Besides, if I left you, whatever would you do?”
“Ah, yes, my girl,” he answered hoarsely, as a shadow of pain flitted for an instant across his darkened brow. “You must not lose the chance of youth.”
She closed her book, placed it aside slowly, and regarded him with surprise.
“Haven’t you always urged me to wait?” she asked half-reproachfully, toying with the two little gipsy rings upon her slim finger. “I understood that you were entirely against my marriage.”
“So I was when you did not possess the chance of making a wealthy and satisfactory alliance,” he replied.