This did not displease her, for, though she had negatived his suggestion, her father's wishes coincided with her own.

She, however, desired to visit Somasco as it were under compulsion, and to feel that she had not done so of her own inclination.
"I think there is a reason--and it would please me," he said.
"Then I should be pleased to hear it." Deringham appeared to consider, because the motives which influenced him were ones he could not well reveal.

"We are his only relatives in this country--and there is the look of the thing," he said.
The girl moved a little, and her father watching her noticed her fine symmetry, and how her red-gold hair gleamed against the white panelling.

It was possibly because of this background he also noticed the faint flicker of warmth that crept into her face and neck, and that there was a glow in her eyes he had not seen there previously.
"That," she said with a cold distinctness, "is precisely what I object to." Deringham laughed a little.

"I think that aspect of the question will not be evident to Alton." "No ?" said the girl, while the tinge of colour deepened a little.
"Still, it is very plain to me." Deringham said nothing, and the two sat still while the voice of the man dictating jarred upon one of them.