"Do you mean"--Her voice broke. "Do you mean to take me back to him?"
"The prince? By no means. I mean to take you back to work, to be good and clean and honest. You must retrieve this step. You shall be independent of me, if you like. You shall sing. My dear daughter, you may not think I have shown you much affection,--but your honor is very dear to me." He looked nobly sincere, and yet she bent her brows upon him, and tried to read a deeper soul than he displayed.
"Father!" The word was wrung from her. She had not willingly called him by it for the two years past. "You have persuaded me before. How can I believe you?"
A melting change came over him. It was evident in his voice, his suffused look, his whole manner.
"My child," said he, "can't you believe I loved your mother?"
Immediately the tides of her filial being were with him. If she denied him, she must hurt something to which her very blood bade her be faithful. The house of life, the father, mother, and their child,--these were the sacred three, and it might be her high emprise to keep their union holy.
"Can you be ready to-morrow?" he asked, with that emphasis his followers knew. "You will stay in town with me until we sail."
He got up and bent to kiss her forehead. But she retreated.
"No," she breathed. "I'll do it, father, but don't be kind to me."
He gave her a little pat on the shoulder, and a reassuring, "Nonsense! I'm always kind. We'll have famous times yet, my dear."
She stood droopingly while his steps went down the stairs and out through the veranda and ceased upon the grass. Then she opened her door and crossed the hall to grannie's room and tapped.
"Come in," called the kind old voice. Grannie was in bed, a candle by her, a book in her hand. She looked, in her nightcap, like a beautiful old baby. "I had to crawl in here," she said apologetically. "I get so stiff sitting about. But I don't want to sleep. Draw up the rocking-chair."
Rose went up to the bedside, and dropped upon her knees, looking up so that the light could strike her face. It was a wretched face, but she tried to keep it calm lest it should plead for her.
"My father is going to take me away," she began. "I must pack to-night. But I want to tell you--"