"No, papa, never," she sobbed.

"Or received one from him?"

"No, sir."

"It is well." Then as if a sudden thought had struck him, "Elsie, have
you ever allowed him to touch your lips?" he asked almost sternly.

"No, papa, not even my cheek. I would not while we were not engaged;
and that could not be without your consent."

"I am truly thankful for that!" he exclaimed in a tone of relief; "to
know that he had--that these sweet lips had been polluted by contact
with his--would be worse to me than the loss of half my fortune." And
lifting her face as he spoke, he pressed his own to them again and
again.

But for the first time in her life she turned from him as if almost
loathing his caresses, and struggled to release herself from the clasp
of his arm.

He let her go, and hurrying to the farther side of the room, she stood
leaning against the window-frame, with her back toward him, shedding
very bitter tears of mingled grief and anger.

But in the pauses of her sobbing a deep sigh struck upon her ear. Her
heart smote her at the sound; still more as she glanced back at her
father and noted the pained expression of his eye as it met hers. In a
moment she was at his side again, down upon the carpet, with her head