A moment later Kate again faced him with a smile, but her eyes glistened
with unshed tears.
"Poor papa!" she said, softly, her lips quivering; "he thinks he is
doing it all for my happiness, and no matter what wretchedness or misery
I suffer, no knowledge of it shall ever pain his dear old heart!"
"Kathie, must it be?" Darrell exclaimed, each word vibrating with
anguish; "is there no hope--no chance of escape for you from such a
fate?"
"I cannot see the slightest reason to hope for escape," she replied,
with the calmness born of despair. She clasped her small hands tightly
and turned a pale, determined face towards Darrell.
"You know, you understand it all, and I know that you do," she said, "so
there is no use in our avoiding this any longer. I want to talk it over
with you and tell you all the truth, so you will not think, by and by,
that I have been false or fickle or weak; but first there is something I
want you to tell me."
She paused a moment, then, looking him full in the eyes, she asked,
earnestly,-"John Darrell, do you still love me?"
Startled out of his customary self-control, Darrell suddenly clasped her
in his arms, exclaiming,-"Kathie darling, how can you ask such a question? Do you think my love
for you could ever grow less?"
For a moment her head nestled against his breast with a little movement
of ineffable content, as she replied,-"No; it was not that I doubted your love, but I wanted an assurance of
it to carry with me through the coming days."
Then, gently withdrawing herself from his embrace, she continued, in the
same calm, even tones: "You ask if there is no chance of escape; I can see absolutely none;
but I want you to understand, if I am forced into this marriage which
papa has planned for me, that it is not through any weakness or
cowardice on my part; that if I yield, it will be simply because of the
love and reverence I bear my father."
Though her face was slightly averted, Darrell could see the tear-drops
falling, but after a slight pause she proceeded as calmly as before: "In all these years he has tried to be both father and mother to me, and
even in this he thinks he is acting for my good. I have never disobeyed
him, and were I to do so now I believe it would break his heart. I am
all that he has left, and after what he has suffered in his silent,
Spartan way, I must bring joy--not sorrow--to his declining years. And
this will be my only reason for yielding."