human
Mr. Deland! How good of you to have come so soon--how very good! she said warmly, extending a hand to him in greeting.
gpt
You must surely stay and lunch with us, now that you have come all this distance. And I want you to meet my father. Her voice dropped a tone or two.
human
Paula is with him now, going over the housekeeping accounts--it is a daily matter upon which he is very insistent. Ross is in the laboratory, tinkering over something to do with the lights, but he'll be out in a minute. I told him I had met you on the train, and that we had got into conversation and found we were congenial friends through Ailsa Lorne. You know her well, don't you, Mr. Deland?
gpt
Rather well, I fancy, as she has consented some day to throw in her lot with me and marry me, he returned in a happy, low-pitched voice.
human
And that is why any friend of hers, you know, must be a friend of mine as well. I'd like very much to have a look at the Castle, if I might be so permitted. Architecture interests me immensely. It's a hobby of mine. And this is surely one of the grandest old stately homes that Scotland possesses!
gpt
Isn't it?--isn't it? I can see you have the love of Home and Race in you, too, Mr. Deland, just as I have it in me, she responded, with a little happy sigh.
human
And if only I had not this other trouble which hangs over me like the sword of Damocles itself, life would be a very happy thing, indeed. For when one loves and is loved----
gpt
Oho! thought Cleek, with upflung brows.
human
So Love finds its way even into these Highland fastnesses. First James Tavish and Lady Paula's companion (if what Mr. Fairnish said was true), and now Miss Duggan herself.
gpt
Who is the happy man?
human
How did you know there was one?
gpt
How does any one know that any one loves any one else--when oneself loves? he returned enigmatically.
human
Remember I, too, belong to the happy band. He lives close here, Miss Duggan?
gpt
Yes. Only a couple of miles away. But, alas! my father will hear nothing of him, and has even forbidden him the house.
human
And may I ask why?
gpt
Certainly. Because he is poor. Father's god is Mammon, Mr. Deland. He knows and acknowledges no other. And Angus Macdonald has received very little at the hands of that god.
human
But a good deal at the hands of the only God that matters, I take it, put in Cleek softly, with a smile at her.
gpt
Well, they say that Love laughs at locksmiths, and always finds a way. Time will give you your chance, Miss Duggan, and you'll have to be brave enough to take it.... There's someone coming, I think.