t of my property? Good for nothing! Ah, my father did not know
the noble impulses that underlay Roger Dale's unostentatious manner!

I do not know how long it was before Aunt Helen knocked a second time,
and said that my father had sent for me. It was probably not more than
half an hour, but it had seemed to me an eternity. I was waiting for the
summons, with the box containing my securities beside me; and with this
in my hands I confronted my father once more in the parlor.

He was no longer visibly angry. Both he and Roger were smoking, and
sitting at ease as I entered. I took a chair close by my lover's side,
and looked at him fondly. He returned my glance, but there was a shadow
of annoyance in his expression that made me feel uneasy. It brought to
my mind his face as I had noticed it the previous evening, when he spoke
of my father's prejudice against him.

At last my father saw fit to begin. He spoke in a deliberate,
business-like tone, free from passion. "I have sent for you, Virginia,
to repeat to you what I have already said to Mr. Dale. Once and for all,
I will never give my consent to your marriage. I am utterly and
radically opposed to it. I have been from the first, as you are aware.
If you ask for my reasons, I do not consider this gentleman fitted to be
my son-in-law. He has on his own admission no means to support a wife;
he has no ambition or desire to excel, and I know from positive evidence
that his habits are by no means exemplary."

He paused, and I glanced anxiously at Roger; but his eyes were fixed on
the floor, and he sat drumming gently on the table with the fingers of
one hand.

"If you persevere in this piece of folly contrary to my expressed
wishes, you do it, Virginia, at your own peril, for I warn you that my
resolution is fixed and cannot be shaken. Do not hope, either of you, by
nursing the affair along to overcome my objections later. That is a
favorite resort of young people in novels; but if fathers in real life
are so weak in general, I shall prove an exception. As you know,
Virginia, the part of a tyrannical parent is the last I ever expected to
be called upon to play. I have allowed you every indulgence, and trusted
you to an extent that I am beginning to believe was unwise. But I will
not waste time in words; my resolution is perfectly explicit. My will is
made in your favor. If I should die to-day, you would be mistress of all
my property. Unless you promise me not to marry th