hat is true," she answered.

"I cannot refrain from complimenting you, Cynthia, upon such rare
conduct," said he. "You will be glad to know that it has contributed
more than anything else toward my estimation of your character, and has
strengthened me in my resolution that I am now doing right. It may
be difficult for you to understand a father's feelings. The complete
separation from my only son was telling on me severely, and I could not
forget that you were the cause of that separation. I knew nothing about
you, except--" He hesitated, for she had turned to him.

"Except what?" she asked.

Mr. Worthington coughed. Mr. Flint had told him, that very morning, of
her separation from Jethro, and of the reasons which people believed had
caused it. Unfortunately, we have not time to go into that conversation
with Mr. Flint, who had given a very good account of Cynthia indeed.
After all (Mr. Worthington reflected), he had consented to the marriage,
and there was no use in bringing Jethro's name into the conversation.
Jethro would be forgotten soon.

"I will not deny to You that I had other plans for my son," he said. "I
had hoped that he would marry a daughter of a friend of mine. You must
be a little indulgent with parents, Cynthia," he added with a little
smile, "we have our castles in the air, too. Sometimes, as in this case,
by a wise provision of providence they go astray. I suppose you have
heard of Miss Duncan's marriage."

"No," said Cynthia.

"She ran off with a worthless Italian nobleman. I believe, on the
whole," he said, with what was an extreme complaisance for the first
citizen, "that I have reason to congratulate myself upon Robert's
choice. I have made inquiries about you, and I find that I have had the
pleasure of knowing your mother, whom I respected very much. And your
father, I understand, came of very good people, and was forced by
circumstances to adopt the means of livelihood he did. My attention has
been called to the letters he wrote to the Guardian, which I hear have
been highly praised by competent critics, and I have ordered a set of
them for the files of the library. You yourself, I find, are highly
thought of in Brampton" (a, not unimportant factor, by the way); "you
have been splendidly educated, and are a lady. In short, Cynthia, I have
come to give my formal consent to your engagement to my son Robert."

"But I am not engaged to him," said Cynthia.

"He will be here shortly, I imagin