't you see?"

"Yes, I see. It is all for the best, of course. All for the best. So I
shall tell my little girl. I long to tell her, face to face, how well
satisfied I am, and should be in any event, that she should please
herself. I want to tell her how well I think of her choice--how nobly I
think he has acted, and--many things that will bring back the roses to her
cheeks and the laughter to her lips. But I will not tell her of her future
brilliant possibilities in England, and I hope that you have not done
so."

"No, never!"

"Quite right. I would have her build her hopes of happiness on better
foundations. Where can I find her?"

"She is in her own room; but I would not talk to her to-day. She is so
shaken. Her little, tender heart is so pained--now that she has decided to
please herself--to think of the suffering she may cause Le."

"Oh, that is what is the matter with her, is it? Well, tell her Le must
console himself with Wynnette! Oh, it will all come right! I am quite
confident that it will all come right!" happily concluded the honest
squire, rising to leave the room.

He stooped and kissed his wife and then went out whistling an old hunting
tune.

CHAPTER XI

FATHER AND DAUGHTER

He went to the stables, mounted his cob and ambled all over his
plantation, looking after such work as could only go on at this season of
the year--mending of fences, repair of outbuildings, of agricultural
implements, and so forth.

Then he came back to the house and hung about it in hope of meeting his
daughter.

At length, about noon, he saw her out on the lawn, warmly clothed in her
close-fitting brown cloth coat, and her quaint brown beaver poke bonnet
tied down tightly as if for a walk in the wind on this bright, breezy
December day.

He quickly slipped on his overcoat, snatched his hat and gloves, and
hurried after her.

He overtook her just as she reached the east gate opening upon the path
that led down to the shore.

"'Where are you going, my pretty maid?
Where are you going, my pretty maid?'"

he sang, gayly, as he came up with her.

She started, looked around and recognized her father.

"I am going down to the shore, papa," she answered, as prosaically as if
he had not sung his question. But he was not put down.

"'May I go with you, my pretty maid?
May I go with you, my pretty maid?'"

he continued, taking her hand and