'And so, my dear, you are to be my child.'
'If you will have me.'
'Come here and sit down by me. Your father has already told you
that;--has he not?
'He has told me that you had consented.'
'And Silverbridge has said as much?'
'I would sooner hear it from you than from either of them.'
'Then hear it from me. You shall be my child. And if you will love
me you shall be very dear to me. You shall be my own child,--as
dear to me as my own. I must either love his wife very dearly, or
else I must be an unhappy man. And she most love me dearly, or I
must be unhappy.'
'I will love you,' she said, pressing his hand.
'And now let me say some few words to you, only let there be no
bitterness in them to your young heart. When I say that I take you
to my own heart, you may be sure that I do so thoroughly. You
shall be as dear to me and as near as though you had been all
English.'
'Shall I?'
'There shall be no difference made. My boy's wife shall be my
daughter in very deed. But I had not wished it to be so.'
'I knew that,--but could I have given up?'
'He at any rate could not give up.
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