The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

526 The lUo/daiid Monthly.
" Of course I'll get the estate and all that."
" You misunderstand me—^I am not a worldly man
not a worldly man. Human happiness I esteem above all
things—if you care to haxe it so, I am philanthropic in my
disposition— philanthropic. Love in the family is the most
beautiful expression of that happiness. To get at my
meaning, let me suggest an illustration, one disagreeable
but necessar}-. Supposing some serious misfortune befel
)'ou— you'll forgive the ridiculousness of the suggestion, sir
—he would, I mean, deplore it more than in the case of
any other individual of the famil\- ?"
" I think he would."
" And there is Miss Flora."
" Professor, I don't quite follow you," broke in Richard,
moving uneasily in his chair.
"No—
perhaps I am discursive, somewhat discursive.
"
But in selecting a husband for my daughter
" Yes, sir."
" In selecting a husband for my daughter, it is, }'ou will
agree, important to know, seeing he is more or less of a
stranger, whether, in the first place, he stands well in his
own family circle."
" Why not ask father ?"
" Ah, there you beg the question ;
—
for I may just as
well tell you now that I am not prepared at present to give
any formal consent to your engagement to my daughter.
Various matters require consideration ; and, first of all,
there is the case of this Miss Flora, to whom, you say, you
are engaged, but whom you do not love sufficiently to make
your wife happily— I say happih-."
" Correct, sir."
" Would she feel your desertion of her— forgive me, but
I am a father dealing with the happiness of a daughter."
" Honestly, I am afraid she would," replied Richard
after a lengthy pause.
" H'm."
" I suppose, sir," continued Richard, again breaking the
silence, " \-oii arc onl)' letting me down gently. It is ver)'