"I'll have to go early, father, dear. It will be very crowded, and
Gerald is waiting. His wife is going to stay with you during my
absence."
"How well you look, my daughter! Why, really, you are getting young
again!"
"This is my birthday, father. I am a maiden of no particular age to
the public, but I whisper in your ear privately," she joyously said;
and, suiting the action to the word, bent down, whispered, kissed him,
and was gone.
"How time flies! But she is still very beautiful. Heaven grant my
prayers may be answered. She deserves to be happy; and when I am gone
she will be very lonely, and then feel keenly my harsh treatment," he
murmured.
Wearily passed the hours until he heard her light step on the stairs.
She came in. He thought there seemed a shadow on her face, but she
came forward, and said, pleasantly:
"Well, father, you are likely to keep your daughter. I heard Ernest. I
had not expected too much; he was grandly eloquent. He has altered in
his looks; he seems much older, and is quite gray; mental work and
hard study, he says."
"Then you saw him, and spoke to him! What do you mean by saying I
shall keep you? Is he mar----"
"Yes," she replied, before he had finished his question.
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