"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.
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