" All my life long," she answered.
" I am glad! I am glad! " said the father, but even
as he spoke a great sadness came to blend with his
joy. The hour when he was to give this beautiful
and beloved life into the keeping of another had been
heralded by the god of the sexes, the ruthless god
that devotes itself to the tearing of children from the
parental arms and casting them amid the mysteries of
an irretrievable wedlock. The thought filled him
with solemnity.
But in the dewy eyes of the girl there was no question.
The world to her was a land of glowing promise.
" I am glad," repeated the professor.
The girl arose from her knees. " I must go away
and-think all about it," she said, smiling. When
the door of her room closed upon her, the mother
arose in majesty.
" Harrison Wainwright," she declaimed, "you are
not going to allow this monstrous thing! "
The professor was aroused from a reverie by these
words. "What monstrous thing ? " he growled.
" Why, this between Coleman and Marjory."
" Yes," he answered boldly.
" Harrison! That man who-"
The professor crashed his hand down on the table.
"Mary! I will not hear another word of it! "
" Well," said Mrs. Wainwright, sullen and ominous,
" time will tell! Time will tell!"
When Coleman bad turned from the fleeing Peter
Tounley again to Marjory, he found her making the
preliminary movements of a flight. "What's the
matter? " he demanded anxiously.
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