I wish you would," continued Mr. Graham, "I'd willingly give every
dollar I'm worth for the privilege of calling her my daughter."

Durward was confounded, and knew not what to think. If his father
had an undue regard for 'Lena, why should he wish to see her the wife
of another, and that other his son? Was it his better and nobler
nature struggling to save her from evil, which prompted the wish?
Durward hoped so--he believed so; and the confidence which had so
recently been shaken was fully restored, when, by the light of the
hall lamp at home, he saw how white and almost ghostly was the face
which, ere they entered the drawing-room, turned imploringly upon
him, asking him "to be careful."

Mrs. Graham had been in a fit of the sulks ever since the morning of
Mrs. Livingstone's call, and now, though she had not seen her husband
for several days, she merely held out her hand, turning her head,
meantime, and replying to his questions in a low, quiet kind of a
much-injured-woman way, as provoking as it was uncalled for.

* * * * *

"Father's suggestion was a good one," thought Durward, when he had
retired to rest. "'Lena is too beautiful to be alone in the world.
I will propose to her at once, and she will thus be out of danger."

But what should he do with her? Should he bring her there to
Woodlawn, where scarcely a day passed without some domestic storm?
No, his home should be full of sunlight, of music and flowers, where
no angry word or darkening frown could ever find entrance; and thus
dreaming of a blissful future, when 'Lena should be his bride, he
fell asleep.

CHAPTER XXI.

JOEL SLOCUM.

In this chapter it may not be out of place to introduce an individual
who, though not a very important personage, is still in some degree
connected with our story. On the night when Durward and his father
were riding home from Frankfort, the family at Maple Grove, with the
exception of grandma, were as usual assembled in the parlor. John
Jr. had returned, and purposely telling his mother and Carrie whom he
had left with 'Lena, had succeeded in putting them both into an
uncomfortable humor, the latter secretly lamenting the mistake which
she had committed in suffering 'Lena to stay with Mabel. But it
could not be remedied now. There was no good reason for calling her
home, and the lady broke at least three cambric-needles in her
vigorous jerks at the handkerchief she was hemming.