"Are you in such a great hurry to get rid of me?" she questioned, with a pathetic smile.
"My dear, I do not want to get rid of you at all. You know the old tag, 'A daughter's a daughter all the days of her life,' and you will be none the less my child when you are the mistress of Rostrevor Castle."
"I shall never be the mistress of Rostrevor Castle," she replied, with downcast eyes.
"Never be the mistress of--never? What do you mean, Dorothy?" And he turned hastily round in his chair and stared at her.
"I was only a child when I promised," she said timidly, "and I did not know anything. I thought it would be a fine thing to have a title and a house in town, and everything that my foolish heart could desire, and I did not understand what marriage to an old man would mean."
"Lord Probus is anything but an old man," he said hastily. "He is in his prime yet."
"But if he were thirty years younger it would be all the same," she answered quietly. "You see, father, I have discovered that I do not love him."
"And you fancy that you love somebody else?" he said, with a sneer.
"I did not say anything of the kind," she said, raising her eyes suddenly to his. "But I know I don't love Lord Probus, and I know I never shall."
"Oh, this is simple nonsense!" he replied angrily. "You cannot play fast and loose in this way. You have given your solemn promise to Lord Probus, and you cannot go back on it."
"You mean that you will defy us both, and defy the law into the bargain?"
"There is no law to compel me to marry a man against my will," she said, with spirit.
"If there is no law to compel you, there's a power that can force you to keep your promise," he said, with suppressed passion.
"What power do you refer to?" she questioned.
"The power of my will," he answered. "Do you think I am going to allow a scandal of this kind to take place?"
"It would be a greater scandal if I married him," she replied.
"Look here, Dorothy," he said. "We had better look at this matter in the light of reason and common sense----"
"That is what I am doing," she interrupted. "I had neither when I gave my promise to Lord Probus. I was just home from school; I knew nothing of the world; I had scarcely a serious thought in my head. My illness has given me time to think and reflect; it has opened my eyes----"