“Of course I mean it, or I should not have said it. Your confession, although it startled me a trifle at first, as it would any father, to be asked to give away his only child, was not wholly unanticipated, for I have not been blind during the last few years, and it has proved your nobility better than almost anything else could have done, and if you can win Gladys, I shall give her to you with my sincere blessing. You have grown very dear to me, Geoff. I have been building great hopes upon you ever since I adopted you as my son, and now nothing would satisfy me so well as to have you become more closely allied to me, and thus cement even more strongly the bonds that already unite us.” “But,” Geoffrey began, then stopped short, a burning flush rising to the roots of his hair, although his heart had thrilled with joy to every word his uncle had uttered. “Well, out with it; surely you are not going to argue against your own cause, when you can have everything your own way—that is, as far as I am concerned,” Mr. Huntress said, laughingly. “But I wish you to consider the matter in all its bearings,” the young man responded, very seriously. “You must not forget that you are utterly ignorant of my parentage. I may even be the child of some unfortunate woman, that was cast adrift in order to conceal the story of her shame. If we should ever make such a discovery, and you should then regret having given me my heart’s desire, it might make misery for us all in the future.” “Geoffrey,” August Huntress responded, in just as serious a tone, “I confess that such a discovery would pain me exceedingly, but more on your account than my own. Still, if I knew at this moment that you could honorably call no man father, if I knew that your mother had committed an irremediable error, it could not detract from my affection for you nor my pride in you. I hope, however, if such is the story of your origin, that you will never know it. The name that I have given you will be sufficient to aid you to an honorable position in the world; it is your character, what you are yourself, that is chiefly to be considered, and I could give you Gladys—provided she was willing to give herself to you—without a demur. Heaven bless you, Geoff! Go and win your bride, if you can!” He held out his hand as he concluded, and Geoffrey seized it in a transport of joy. “Uncle August, you are a royal gentleman,” he cried, earnestly; “and now you have crowned all your past goodness to me with this great, this priceless gift, I am the happiest fellow in Christendom!”