is the favorite."

"Bertie certainly is her darling, and he is very handsome; not in
the very least degree like me."

For the first time, their eyes met in a friendly glance, and a
covert smile stirred the General's lips; but as he put out his hand
toward her, she moved a step beyond his reach.

"Beryl, you consider me a dreadful, cruel old tyrant?"

She made no reply.

"Answer me."

"You are my mother's father; and that word--father, means so much to
me, that it shall shield even you, from the shadow of disrespect."

"Oh! very dutiful indeed, but dead as the days when daughters
obeyed, and honored their fathers! Beggarly foreign professors wiped
all that out of the minds of wealthy girls at boarding schools--just
as they changed their backwoods pronunciation of French and Italian.
Don't evade my question."

"I did not come here, sir, to bandy words; and I ended my mission by
delivering the letter intrusted to me."

"You regard me as a vindictive old bear?"

"I had heard much of the Darringtons; I imagined a great deal more;