hinking--he thought only of
himself and his predicament. He could not remain, and yet he could not
go--with dignity. He who had come to bestow could not depart like a
whipped dog.

Suddenly a fear transfixed him: suppose that this woman, from whom he
could not hide the truth, should tell his son what he had done. Bob
would believe her. Could he, Isaac Worthington, humble his pride and ask
her to keep her suspicions to herself? He would then be acknowledging
that they were more than suspicions. If he did so, he would have to
appear to forgive her in spite of what she had said to him. And Bob
was coming home. Could he tell Bob that he had changed his mind and
withdrawn his consent to the marriage? There world be the reason, and
again Bob would believe her. And again, if he withdrew his consent,
there was Jethro to reckon with. Jethro must have a weapon still, Mr.
Worthington thought, although he could not imagine what it might be.
As Isaac Worthington sat there, thinking, it grew clear, to him at last
that there was but one exit out of a very desperate situation.

He glanced at Cynthia again, this time appraisingly. She had dried her
eyes, but she made no effort to speak. After all, she would make such
a wife for his son as few men possessed. He thought of Sarah
Hollingsworth. She had been a good woman, but there had been many
times when he had deplored--especially in his travels the lack of other
qualities in his wife. Cynthia, he thought, had these qualities,--so
necessary for the wife of one who would succeed to power--though whence
she had got them Isaac Worthington could not imagine. She would become
a personage; she was a woman of whom they had no need to be ashamed
at home or abroad. Having completed these reflections, he broke the
silence.

"I am sorry that you should have been misled into thinking such a thing
as you have expressed, Cynthia," he said, "but I believe that I can
understand something of the feelings which prompted you. It is natural
that you should have a resentment against me after everything that has
happened. It is perhaps natural, too, that I should lose my temper under
the circumstances. Let us forget it. And I trust that in the future
we shall grow into the mutual respect and affection which our nearer
relationship will demand."

He rose, and took up his hat, and Cynthia rose too. There was something
very fine, he thought, about her carriage and expression as she stood in
front of him.