"Then," said Torrance, "I'll start to-morrow. Still, I don't want to leave the girls here, and it would suit me if you could drive them over to Allonby's. I don't mind admitting that they have given me a good deal of anxiety, though they've made things pleasant, too, and I've 'most got afraid of wondering what Cedar will feel like when they go away." "Will Miss Torrance go away?" "She will," said Torrance, with a little sigh, though there was pride in his eyes, "when the trouble's over--but not before. She came home to see the old man through." Clavering seized the opportunity. "Did you ever contemplate the possibility of Miss Torrance marrying anybody here?" "I have a notion that there's nobody good enough," Torrance said quickly. Clavering nodded, though he felt the old man's eyes upon him, and did not relish the implication. "Still, I fancy the same difficulty would be met with anywhere else, and that encourages me to ask if you would have any insuperable objections to myself?" Torrance looked at him steadily. "I have been expecting this. Once I thought it was Miss Schuyler; but she does not like you." "I am sorry," and Clavering wondered whether his host was right, "though, the latter fact is not of any great moment. I have long had a sincere respect for Miss Torrance, but I am afraid it would be difficult to tell you all I think of her." "The point," said Torrance, somewhat grimly, "is what she thinks of you." "I don't know. It did not seem quite fitting to ask her until I had spoken to you." Torrance said nothing for almost a minute, and to Clavering the silence became almost intolerable. The old man's forehead was wrinkled and he stared at the wall in front of him with vacant eyes. Then, he spoke very slowly. "That was the square thing, and I have to thank you. For twenty years now I have worked and saved for Hetty--that she might have the things her mother longed for and never got. And I've never been sorry--the girl is good all through. It is natural that she should marry; and even so far as the dollars go, she will bring as much to her husband as he can give her, and if it's needful more; but there are one or two points about you I don't quite like." The old man's voice vibrated and his face grew softer and the respect that Clavering showed when he answered was not all assumed. "I know my own unworthiness, sir, but I think any passing follies I may have indulged in are well behind me now." "Well," said Torrance drily, "it's quite hard to shake some tastes and habits off, and one or two of them have a trick of hanging on to the man who thinks he has done with them. Now, I want a straight answer. Do you know any special reason why it would not be the square thing for you to marry my daughter?" A faint colour crept into Clavering's face. "I know a good many which would make the bargain unfair to her," he said, "but there are very few men in this country who would be good enough for her."