I had sent you from me to get that which I had not,
dreaming that we would still be one. As though two could be added to
two and still remain two. So, to sum up, the breed still holds, but
you have learned an alien tongue. When you speak it I am deaf. And
bitterest of all, I know that the new tongue is the greater. I do not
know why I have said all this, made my confession of weakness--"
"Oh, father mine, greatest of men!" She raised her head and laughed
into his eyes, the while brushing back the thick iron-gray hair which
thatched the dome of his forehead. "You, who have wrestled more
mightily, done greater things than these painters and versifiers. You
who know so well the law of change. Might not the same plaint fall
from your father's lips were he to sit now beside you and look upon
your work and you?"
"Yes, yes. I have said that I understand. Do not let us discuss
it . . . a moment's weakness. My father was a great man."
"And so mine."
"A struggler to the end of his days. He fought the great lone
fight--"
"And so mine."
"And died fighting."
"And so shall mine. So shall we all, we Welses."
He shook her playfully, in token of returning spirits. "But I intend
to sell out,--mines, Company, everything,--and study Browning."
"Still the fight. You can't discount the blood, father."
"Why were you not a boy?" he demanded, abruptly.
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