"I think I will see him, then," she murmured, in her timid voice.
"Exactly as you choose!" And he went to the door and opened it for
her to go out. The movement gave her a terrible sense of his turning
her off.
"It will be only once, for the present," she added, lingering a
moment.
"Exactly as you choose," he repeated, standing there with his hand on
the door. "I have told you what I think. If you see him, you will
be an ungrateful, cruel child; you will have given your old father
the greatest pain of his life."
This was more than the poor girl could bear; her tears overflowed,
and she moved towards her grimly consistent parent with a pitiful
cry. Her hands were raised in supplication, but he sternly evaded
this appeal. Instead of letting her sob out her misery on his
shoulder, he simply took her by the arm and directed her course
across the threshold, closing the door gently but firmly behind her.
After he had done so, he remained listening. For a long time there
was no sound; he knew that she was standing outside. He was sorry
for her, as I have said; but he was so sure he was right. At last he
heard her move away, and then her footstep creaked faintly upon the
stairs.
The Doctor took several turns round his study, with his hands in his
pockets, and a thin sparkle, possibly of irritation, but partly also
of something like humour, in his eye. "By Jove," he said to himself,
"I believe she will stick--I believe she will stick!" And this idea
of Catherine "sticking" appeared to have a comical side, and to offer
a prospect of entertainment.
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