They were enemies still, but the girl
had found the man human; the man, because he was man, found himself
yielding to her woman's domination.
Petro said God had made her a princess. She was only a shop girl, and
the vain old man wanted her out of his way--intended to put her out of
his way, by hook or by crook; but all the same in look and manner she
was his ideal of a girl queen, and he could understand Petro being a
fool over her.
"He never has asked you? But I thought---"
(_Tap, tap,_ for the second and third time.)
"I know what you thought. You wouldn't listen when I tried to
explain."
(_Tap, tap, tap_! No answer. And so the door opened.)
"It isn't only that your son hasn't asked me to marry him, he hasn't
even told me he cared."
"But he does both now," said Peter Rolls, Jr., on the threshold.
As he spoke he came into the room with a few long, quick steps that
took him straight to Win, as if he wanted to protect her against his
father if need be. And timidly, yet firmly, he was followed by Mrs.
Rolls, wearing the new gray wrap.
"I'd have told you long ago if I'd had the chance," he went on. "I
told father this morning that I'd loved you ever since the first
minute I saw you, and that you were the only girl who ever was or ever
would be.
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