"And you gave your permission?" he asked, slowly, with terrible emphasis
on each word.
"Most assuredly," Mr. Underwood retorted, quickly, stung to self-defence
by Darrell's look and tone. "I may add that I have had this thing in
mind for some time--have felt that it was coming; in fact, this new
partnership arrangement was made with a view to facilitate matters, and
he was enough of a gentleman to come forward at once with his
proposition."
Darrell gazed out of the window again with unseeing eyes. "Mr.
Underwood," he said, in a low tone, "I would never have believed it
possible that your infatuation for that man would have led to this."
"There is no infatuation about it," the elder man replied, hotly; "it is
a matter of good, sound judgment and business calculation. I know of no
man among our townspeople, or even in the State, to whom I would give my
daughter as soon as I would to Walcott. There are others who may have
larger means now, but they haven't got his business ability. With what I
can give Puss, what he has now, and what he will make within the next
few years, she will have a home and position equal to the best."
"Is that all you think of, Mr. Underwood?"
"Not all, by any means; but it's a mighty important consideration, just
the same. But the man is all right morally; you, with all your prejudice
against him, can't lay your finger on one flaw in his character."
"Mr. Underwood," said Darrell, slowly, "I have studied that man, I have
heard him talk. He has no conception of life beyond the sensual, the
animal; he is a brute, a beast, in thought and act. He is no more fit to
marry your daughter, or even to associate with her, than----"
"Young man," interrupted Mr. Underwood, laughing good-humoredly, "I have
only one thing against you: you are not exactly practical. You are, like
my friend Britton, inclined to rather high ideals. We don't generally
find men built according to those ideals, and we have to take 'em as we
find 'em."
"But you will, of course, allow your daughter to act according to her
own judgment? You surely would not force her into any marriage
distasteful to her?" Darrell asked, remembering Kate's aversion for
Walcott.
"A young girl's judgment in those matters is not often to be relied
upon. Kate knows that I consider only her best interests, and I think
her judgment could be brought to coincide with my own. At any rate, she
knows her father's will is law."
As Darrell, convinced that argument would be useless, made no reply, Mr.
Underwood added, after a pause,-"I know I can trust to your honor that you will not influence her
against Walcott?"