"N--o," she replied, at length. But the no, in its hesitation, sounded almost as much like yes.
"My dear, I did not ask you to deceive me," was the grave answer; "I ask for the truth."
"O papa, you know--you _know_ I would not deceive you," she replied, quite in distress. And Dr. Davenal, pained by the tone, drew her to him and kissed her cheek. He knew how good, how loving, how dutiful, was this daughter of his.
"The real truth is this, papa. Very recently, only since a day or two, a faint suspicion has arisen in my mind that it might be so. Caroline has not spoken, and I have had nothing to guide me to it, except the fact that Mr. Cray is so much here. Indeed, I do not know whether it is so or not."
"I believe I have been a little blind," observed Dr. Davenal speaking quite as much to himself as to his daughter. "The fact is, Sara, I had a notion in my head that some one else had taken a fancy to Caroline; and I suppose I could see nothing beyond it. I speak of Mr. Oswald Cray."
It was well that Dr. Davenal's eyes were fixed on the garden, or he might have wondered at the startled change in his daughter's face. It had turned of one glowing crimson. She moved again to the table, and stood there with her back to the light.
"I suppose I was mistaken; that there was nothing in it, Sara?"
"Nothing, papa, I think; nothing whatever," came the low-toned answer.
"But Mr. Oswald Cray does come here a great deal when he is at Hallingham?" pursued the doctor, as if willing to debate the question.
The crimson grew deeper. Dr. Davenal did not seem to observe that there was no answer.
"How the idea came to arise, I do not understand. Heaven knows I should be the last man in the world to scheme and plan out marriages--for Caroline or for anybody else. Such matters are best left to come about of themselves. But, Sara, I wish one thing--that it had been Mr. Oswald Cray, instead of Mark."
"Do you, papa?" with the blushing face still turned from him.
"Ay, I do. I could have _trusted_ her to Oswald. _How_ could she choose the other in preference to him?"
Sara lifted her face. Eager words were on her lips--to the effect that perhaps Mr. Oswald Cray might not have chosen Caroline. But they died away unspoken.