Her father met her at the station and put her into a taxi. All the way
home she sat with her hand in his.
"Did you have a good time?" he asked.
"Heavenly, Dad."
They ate dinner together, and she talked of her day, wishing that there
was nothing to keep from him, wishing that she might whisper it to him
now. She had no fear of his disapproval. Dad loved her.
No call had come from Barry. She finished dinner and wandered
restlessly from room to room.
When nine o'clock struck, she crept into the General's library, and
found him in his big chair reading and smoking.
She sat on a little stool beside him, and laid her head against his
knee. Presently his hand slipped from his book and touched her curls.
And then both sat looking into the fire.
"If your mother had lived, my darling," the old man said, "she would
have made things easier for you."
"About Barry's going away?"
"Yes."
"It seems silly for him to go, Dad. Surely there's something here for
him to do."
"Gordon thinks that the trip will bring out his manhood, make him less
of a boy."
"I don't think Gordon understands Barry."
"And you do, baby? I'm afraid you spoil him."
"Nobody could spoil Barry."
"Don't love him too much."
"As if I could."
"I'm not sure," the old man said, shrewdly, "that you don't. And no
man's worth it. Most of us are selfish pigs--we take all we can
get--and what we give is usually less than we ask in return."
But now she was smiling into the fire. "You gave mother all that you
had to give, Dad, and you made her happy."
"Yes, thank God," and now there were tears on the old cheeks; "for the
short time that I had her--I made her happy."
When Barry came, he found her curled up in her father's arms. Over her
head the General smiled at this boy who was some day to take her from
him.
But Barry did not smile. He greeted the General, and when Leila came
to him, tremulously self-conscious, he did not meet her eyes, but he
took her hand in his tightly, while he spoke to her father.
"You won't mind, General, if I carry Leila off to the other room. I've
a lot of things to say to her."
"Of course not. I was in love once myself, Barry."