It was as if she had fallen from a height.

The realization that her father and his new wife wanted to send her away, that she was not wanted in her home, stunned her.
But in a moment the door was flung open and her father entered.

He knelt down beside Maria and pulled her head to his shoulder and kissed her, and she felt with a sort of dull wonder his face damp against her own.
"Father's little girl!" said Harry.

"Father's own little girl! Father's blessing! Did she think he wanted to send her away?
I rather guess he didn't.

How would father get along without his own precious baby, when he came home at night.