'But you liked the country?'
'I loved it.'
McEachern drew a breath of relief. The only possible obstacle to the
great change did not exist.
'How would you like to go back to England, Molly?'
'To England! When I've just come home?'
'If I went, too?'
Molly twisted around so that she could see his face better.
'There's something the matter with you, father. You're trying to say
something, and I want to know what it is. Tell me quick, or I'll
make Rastus bite you!'
'It won't take long, dear. I've been lucky in some investments while
you were away, and I'm going to leave the force, and take you over
to England, and find a prince for you to marry--if you think you
would like it.'
'Father! It'll be perfectly splendid!'
'We'll start fair in England, Molly. I'll just be John McEachern,
from America, and, if anybody wants to know anything about me, I'm a
man who has made money on Wall Street--and that's no lie--and has
come over to England to spend it.'
Molly gave his arm a squeeze. Her eyes were wet.
'Father, dear,' she whispered, 'I believe you've been doing it all
for me. You've been slaving away for me ever since I was born,
stinting yourself and saving money just so that I could have a good
time later on.'
'No, no!'
'It's true,' she said. She turned on him with a tremulous laugh. 'I
don't believe you've had enough to eat for years. I believe you're
all skin and bone. Never mind. To-morrow, I'll take you out and buy
you the best dinner you've ever had, out of my own money. We'll go
to Sherry's, and you shall start at the top of the menu, and go
straight down it till you've had enough.'
'That will make up for everything. And, now, don't you think you
ought to be going to bed? You'll be losing all that color you got on
the ship.'
'Soon--not just yet. I haven't seen you for such ages!' She pointed
at the bull-terrier. 'Look at Tommy, standing there and staring. He
can't believe I've really come back. Father, there was a man on the
Lusitania with eyes exactly like Tommy's--all brown and bright--and
he used to stand and stare just like Tommy's doing.'
'If I had been there,' said her father wrathfully, 'I'd have knocked
his head off.'
'No, you wouldn't, because I'm sure he was really a very nice young
man. He had a chin rather like yours, father. Besides, you couldn't
have got at him to knock his head off, because he was traveling
second-class.'
'Second-class? Then, you didn't talk with him?'
'We couldn't. You wouldn't expect him to shout at me across the
railing! Only, whenever I walked round the deck, he seemed to be
