She had been told that she
must be made to marry Mr. Twentyman, and the injustice of that
threat had at once made her rebel against her stepmother's
authority. She would never allow her stepmother to make her marry
any one. She put herself into a state of general defiance and said
as little as was said to her. But her father's silence to her
nearly broke her heart. On one or two occasions, as opportunity
offered itself to her, she said little soft words to him in
privacy. Then he would partly relent, would kiss her and bid her be
a good girl, and would quickly hurry away from her. She could
understand that he suffered as well as herself, and she perhaps got
some consolation from the conviction. At last, on the following
Saturday she watched her opportunity and brought to him when he was
alone in his office a letter which she had written to Larry
Twentyman. "Papa," she said, "would you read that?" He took and
read the letter, which was as follows:--
My Dear Mr. Twentyman,
Something was said about two months which are now very nearly over.
I think I ought to save you from the trouble of coming to me again
by telling you in a letter that it cannot be as you would have it.
I have thought of it a great deal and have of course been anxious
to do as my friends wish. And I am very grateful to you, and know
how good and how kind you are.
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