"And if he break that promise?"

"Ah, then he would be without honor, and you would not marry him." A
moment's silence followed, broken by a long, deep sigh that ended in
little quivering waves, like the faint ripples that reach the
shore,--the whispered echoes of the sobbing sea.

"O father, it is cruel! _cruel! cruel!_" she cried, raising a tearful
face to him.

"It is justice, stern justice; to you, my dear, to myself, and this fine
young fellow who has stolen your heart. Let him show himself worthy of
you, and you have my blessing and my fortune."

"Is he going soon?"

"He is gone."

The young woman knelt by her father's chair and bowed her head upon his
knee, quivering with grief.

This stern man, who had humped himself and made a million, put a hand on
her head and said:

"Ma-Mary"--and then choked up.


II

The tent boy put a small white card down on General Dodge's desk one