oice as he spoke next quite recalled me:

"I had better get up now. When Margaret comes in, tell her yourself
that I am all right. It will avoid any shock! And will you tell
Corbeck that I would like to see him as soon as I can. I want to see
those lamps, and hear all about them!"

His attitude towards me filled me with delight. There was a possible
father-in-law aspect that would have raised me from a death-bed. I was
hurrying away to carry out his wishes; when, however, my hand was on
the key of the door, his voice recalled me:

"Mr. Ross!"

I did not like to hear him say "Mr." After he knew of my friendship
with his daughter he had called me Malcolm Ross; and this obvious
return to formality not only pained, but filled me with apprehension.
It must be something about Margaret. I thought of her as "Margaret"
and not as "Miss Trelawny", now that there was danger of losing her. I
know now what I felt then: that I was determined to fight for her
rather than lose her. I came back, unconsciously holding myself erect.
Mr. Trelawny, the keen observer of men, seemed to read my thought; his
face, which was set in a new anxiety, relaxed as he said:

"Sit down a minute; it is better that we speak now than later. We are
both men, and men of the world. All this about my daughter is very new
to me, and very sudden; and I want to know exactly how and where I
stand. Mind, I am making no objection; but as a father I have duties
which are grave, and may prove to be painful. I--I"--he seemed
slightly at a loss how to begin, and this gave me hope--"I suppose I am
to take it, from what you have said to me of your feelings towards my
girl, that it is in your mind to be a suitor for her hand, later on?"
I answered at once:

"Absolutely! Firm and fixed; it was my intention the evening after I
had been with her on the river, to seek you, of course after a proper
and respectful interval, and to ask you if I might approach her on the
subject. Events forced me into closer relationship more quickly than I
had to hope would be possible; but that first purpose has remained
fresh in my heart, and has grown in intensity, and multiplied itself
with every hour which has passed since then." His face seemed to
soften as he looked at me; the memory of his own youth was coming back
to him instinctively. After a pause he said:

"I suppose I may take it, too, Malcolm Ross"--the return to the
familiarity of address swept through me w