For the hundredth time, as he looked at her, he thought how beautiful
she was, and for the hundredth time compared her to Ida, of course to
his sweetheart's advantage. She leant back in the luxurious lounge with
her eyes bent on her jewelled fan, and seemed lost in thought. Then
suddenly she said: "Do you know how long we have been here, Mr. Orme? It is a tremendous
time. I told my father to-night that we must take our departure."
"Oh, no!" he said. "Pray don't think of it--if you care to stay, if you
are happy. You would be a very serious loss to us."
"If I care--if I am happy!" She laughed a low, strange laugh and raised
her eyes to his for an instant. "Do you think I have not been happy?"
"Oh, I hope so," he said. "My father would be awfully cut up if he
thought you had not: if he thought there had been anything to prevent
your being happy he would remove it even if it--it were one of those
mountains outside," he added, with a laugh.
"You admire your father?" she said. "You--are fond of him?"
Stafford nodded. It seemed an unnecessary question.
"Rather!" he said. "There never was such a father as mine!"
"And Sir Stephen thinks there never was such a son as his," she said in
a low voice. "I suppose you are both quite willing to make sacrifices
for each other. Would you do--would you give up much for your father,
Mr. Orme?"
She raised her eyes again, and let them rest on his.
Stafford tried to smile, but his face grew grave.
"Just my life, if it were any use to him," he said.
Her lips moved.
"That is so little!" she said. "We can all die for those we love, but
few of us can live for them--go on living a life which has to be
moulded to a plan, bent on another's will--Could you do that?"
"Yes," he said, after a pause. "There is no sacrifice I would not make
for my father's sake; but"--he laughed and cleared the gravity from his
brow--"all the sacrifice seems to be on his side. He has worked for me
all his life, is working still, I'm afraid--Here is _your_ father, Miss
Falconer; and looking for you, I'm afraid."
Ralph Falconer stood in the doorway looking round, his heavy face
seeming heavier than usual, his thick lips drooping. As he saw the two
young people, his lips straightened and he went over to them slowly.