In the next
instant, she flew to the opposite extreme, with the suddenness of a
flash of lightning. "I won't give him up!" she burst out violently. "No!
not if a thousand fathers ask me!"
"I am one father," said Mr. Clare. "And I don't ask you."
In the first astonishment and delight of hearing those unexpected words,
she started to her feet, crossed the room, and tried to throw her arms
round his neck. She might as well have attempted to move the house from
its foundations. He took her by the shoulders and put her back in her
chair. His inexorable eyes looked her into submission; and his lean
forefinger shook at her warningly, as if he was quieting a fractious
child.
"Hug Frank," he said; "don't hug me. I haven't done with you yet; when
I have, you may shake hands with me, if you like. Wait, and compose
yourself."
He left her. His hands went back into his pockets, and his monotonous
march up and down the room began again.
"Ready?" he asked, stopping short after a while. She tried to answer.
"Take two minutes more," he said, and resumed his walk with the
regularity of clock-work. "These are the creatures," he thought to
himself, "into whose keeping men otherwise sensible give the happiness
of their lives.
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