I'm afraid you'll laugh at me. Will you promise
not to laugh at me?"
"Anything to please you, my dear. Yes: I promise. Now, then, out with
it! How might Frank do better?"
"He might marry Me."
If the summer scene which then spread before Mr. Vanstone's eyes had
suddenly changed to a dreary winter view--if the trees had lost all
their leaves, and the green fields had turned white with snow in an
instant--his face could hardly have expressed greater amazement than
it displayed when his daughter's faltering voice spoke those four
last words. He tried to look at her--but she steadily refused him the
opportunity: she kept her face hidden over his shoulder. Was she in
earnest? His cheek, still wet with her tears, answered for her. There
was a long pause of silence; she waited--with unaccustomed patience, she
waited for him to speak. He roused himself, and spoke these words only:
"You surprise me, Magdalen; you surprise me more than I can say."
At the altered tone of his voice--altered to a quiet, fatherly
seriousness--Magdalen's arms clung round him closer than before.
"Have I disappointed you, papa?" she asked, faintly. "Don't say I have
disappointed you! Who am I to tell my secret to, if not to you? Don't
let him go--don't! don't! You will break his heart.
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