"It is all right, Daddy," I said. "It was a bit of a dreadful shock; I don't pretend it was anything else. I have always put you--oh, on such a pedestal! But I'll get used to it. You were tempted awfully, or you would never have done it. I am certain of that, and--I have never been tempted at all, so, of course, I can't understand. You were tempted, poor darling, and it--it happened. It is hateful of people to stamp on you, and crush you when you're down; but I suppose it is something horrid inside of them makes them do it. Daddy, I'm not made like that. I couldn't stamp on you--I couldn't crush you. On the contrary, I have made up my mind. You and I against the world, Daddy mine, against the whole wide world. You won't return to London to-night; you'll stay here, and you'll write to Lady Helen, and you'll tell her that you and I have escaped from the worst prison, and are going to live always together, and that we aren't a bit afraid of poverty, and that, in short, we've made up our minds. We've cut the Gordian knot. We'll be happy together, and we don't care a scrap about poverty." "That's your firm resolve, is it, Heather?" said my father. "It is. I have been thinking it out--I can't get away from it." "All right. Give me a kiss, child." I put my arms round him, and kissed him many times. Again I noticed that there wasn't a bit of shame in his eyes; they looked quite clear, and steadfast, and blue, with that wonderful blue light which I think only comes into the eyes of men who are accustomed to face the sea and the wind, and who have lived a great deal out of doors. "So that is your final decision?" he repeated. "I like to feel your kisses on my cheek, Heather." I kissed him again. "It is," I said. "Well, now you've to hear mine." "Oh, yours," I said; "you won't go away from your own Heather--you couldn't--you love her too well." "God knows I love you, pretty one. You are the only creature on earth I do love. I love you with all my heart and soul, and that's saying a great deal. For the ten long years I was in prison I kept thinking and thinking of you, child. But for you I might have lost my reason; but your little face, and your ways, and your love for me kept me--well, all right. And now I am a free man again--I mean, I am free to claim your love. But you haven't decided what part Carbury is to play in this." I shivered very slightly. "I have told you," I said. "He won't play any part. I--I'm going to write to him. We need not talk about him any more. Yesterday you and my stepmother were opposed to my marrying him; now I also am opposed. There will be no marriage between us. I am all yours." "Oh, you best child in all the world!" "Then it's settled, isn't it, Daddy?" "My little girl, I can't tell. It rests with Carbury himself. But my part--you've got to hear my part now."