.

.

And, as I understand it, you are now stepping forward to offer me--on the chance of--of----" "I offer you a place in this house as my son.

I offer to deal with you as a father--accepting that belief and every responsibility, and every duty, and every sacrifice that such a belief entails," For a long time the young fellow stood there without stirring, pallid, his dark, expressionless eyes, fixed on space.

And after a while he spoke.
"Colonel Arran, I had rather than all the happiness on earth, that you had left me the memory of my mother.