, and ears were suffused with color as she faltered
unsteadily,--

"Oh, Father, he loves me." Then at the wonder of it, she exclaimed,
throwing her arms about his neck impulsively and hiding her face in his
shoulder, "I am so happy, so happy! It seems almost too beautiful to be
true."

The old man's trembling hand smoothed the soft little tendrils of hair
that had escaped from their pins. He stifled a groan as he was thus
disarmed.

"And what," she asked, her sweet eyes holding his as she stepped back,
"what do you think of Herbert Kemp, M. D.? Will you be proud of your
son-in-law, Father darling?"

Levice's hand fell suddenly on her shoulder. He schooled himself to
smile quietly upon her.

"Dr. Kemp is a great friend of mine. He is a gentleman whom all the
world honors, not only for his professional worth, but for his manly
qualities. I am not surprised that you love him, nor yet that he loves
you--except for one thing."

"And that?" she asked, smiling confidently at him.

"Child, you are a Jewess; Dr. Kemp is a Christian."

And still his daughter smiled trustingly.

"What difference can that make, since we love each other?" she asked.

"Will you believe me, Ruth, when I say that all I desire is your
happiness?"

"Father, I know it."

"Then I tell you I can never bring myself to approve of a marriage
between you and a Christian. There can be no true happiness in such a
union."

"Why not? Inasmuch as all my life you have taught me to look upon
my Christian friends as upon my Jewish, and since you admit him
irreproachable from every standpoint, why can he not be my husband?"

"Have you ever thought of what such a marriage entails?"

"Never."

"Then do so now: think of every sacrifice, social and religious, it
enforces; think of the great difference between the Jewish race and
the Christians; and if, after you have measured with the deadliest
earnestness every duty that married life brings, you can still believe
that you will be happy, then marry him."

"With your blessing?" Her lovely, pleading eyes still held his.

"Always with my blessing, child. One thing more: did Dr. Kemp mention
anything of this to you?"

"No; he must have forgotten it as I did, or rather, if I ever thought of
it, it was a mere passing shadow. I put it aside with the thought that
though you and I had never discussed such a circumstance, judging by all
your other actions in our relations with Christians, you would be above