ave awakened some suspicions in your mind?"

"Your story has interested me deeply, sir," said Errington; "but I
assure you I never had any suspicions of you at all. I always disregard
gossip--it is generally scandalous, and seldom true. Besides, I took
your face on trust, as you took mine."

"Then," declared Gueldmar, with a smile, "I have nothing more to
say,--except"--and he stretched out both hands--"may the great gods
prosper your wooing! You offer a fairer fate to Thelma than I had
dreamed of for her--but I know not what the child herself may say--"

Philip interrupted him. His eyes flashed, and he smiled.

"She loves me!" he said simply. Gueldmar looked at him, laughed a little,
and sighed.

"She loves thee?" he said, relapsing into the _thee_ and _thou_ he was
wont to use with his daughter. "Thou hast lost no time, my lad? When
didst thou find that out?"

"To-day!" returned Philip, with that same triumphant smile playing about
his lips. "She told me so--yet even now I cannot believe it!"

"Ah, well, thou mayest believe it truly," said Gueldmar, "for Thelma says
nothing that she does not mean! The child has never stooped to even the
smallest falsehood."

Errington seemed lost in a happy dream. Suddenly he roused himself and
took Gueldmar by the arm.

"Come," he said, "let us go to her! She will wonder why we are so long
absent. See! the storm has cleared--the sun is shining. It is
understood? You will give her to me?"

"Foolish lad!" said Gueldmar gently. "What have I to do with it? She has
given herself to thee! Love has overwhelmed both of your hearts, and
before the strong sweep of such an ocean what can an old man's life
avail? Nothing--less than nothing! Besides, I _should_ be happy--if I
have regrets,--if I feel the tooth of sorrow biting at my heart--'tis
naught but selfishness. 'Tis my own dread of parting with her"--his
voice trembled, and his fine face quivered with suppressed emotion.

Errington pressed his arm. "Our house shall be yours, sir!" he said
eagerly. "Why not leave this place and come with us?"

Gueldmar shook his head. "Leave Norway!" he said--"leave the land of my
fathers--turn my back on these mountains and fjords and glaziers? Never!
No, no, my lad, you're kind-hearted and generous as becomes you, and I
thank you from my heart. But 'twould be impossible! I should be like a
caged eagle, breaking my wings against the bars of English
conventionalities. Besides, young birds must