bridged the awkwardness of the moment!
Before they realized it, Abbie and the three veteran seafarers were
chatting gaily with the visitor, and even Zenas Henry was venturing out
of his reserve and unbending into geniality when the words "_and now to
business_" chilled the warmth of his mood and sent him back into his
shell, thrilling with vague forebodings.

With every eye fixed expectantly upon him, Mr. Galbraith took off his
Panama and fanned himself.

"Now that we have put together a few of the links that bind our two
families," he began, "and laid the foundation for a friendship which I
hope the future will foster, there are a few intimate matters of which
I wish to speak. First there is Bob Morton, and if you want any
reassuring as to his character, I can give it to you. Your own wise
and shrewd discrimination has led you to accept him at his face value
and your estimate of him has not been a mistaken one. I do not think
there is a young man in the world of greater sterling worth than the
one your daughter has chosen for a husband."

At the firm emphasis on the word _daughter_, Zenas Henry's jaw relaxed.

"Of course, you feel the same anxiety for your child that I feel for
mine, and realize how much a woman's happiness depends on the man into
whose hands she puts her life. In giving up Cynthia I know what it
means to you to give up Delight. We parents cannot expect to have all
the joy and none of the suffering that comes with having children,
however." He looked at Zenas Henry and a quiet sympathy passed from
one man to the other. "But we should be selfish indeed were we to deny
to those we love the best gift heaven has to bestow. It is making
others happy in their way, not in ours, that tests our real affection
for them. And so I know that underneath all your personal regrets you
rejoice in the prospect of Delight's marriage as I rejoice in
Cynthia's. We shall not always be in this world to safeguard our
daughters. How much better to see their future in the protection of
younger and stronger men than ourselves!"

"Yes, yes!" murmured Zenas Henry.

"And now I want to speak to Delight, although I am sure she will wish
you to hear what I have to say to her. It is a matter of business
about which she alone can decide. When Madam Lee, her grandmother,
died, she left a large property in real estate and securities which she
willed outright to an old friend of whom she was devotedly fond. She
felt th