Not that I had not been protected
all my life; but my mother's had been the protection of
authority; my father's also, in some measure; Dr. Sandford's
was emphatically that of a _guardian;_ he guarded me a little
too well. But this new thing that was stealing into my heart,
with its subtle delight, was the protection of a champion; of
one who set me and mine above all other interests or claims in
the world, and who would guard me as if he were a part of
myself, only stronger. Altogether Thorold seemed to me
different from what he had been the last summer; there was a
gravity now in his face and air at times that was new and even
stern; the gravity of a man taking stern life-work upon him. I
felt all this in a minute, while Thorold was smiling down into
my face.
"And you will write to me?" he said.
"Yes!"
"And I will write to you. And I belong to you, Daisy, and to
no other. All I have is yours, and all that I am is yours, —
after my duty; you may dispose of me, pretty one, just as you
like.
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