Aaron was writing in his library as she burst in, his head bent over the desk. She did not wait for him to turn, but flung strangled words at his back. 'Is it true that you wish me to marry Joseph Alston, and that you told him so?'

He sanded the words he had been writing, closed his portfolio, and walked over to her, putting a hand on either side of her face. 'Quite true,' he said quietly. 'And, my dear little girl, I will tell you why.'

He told her why. Not the whole truth, yet a near version of it. He marshaled all the arguments, using cold logic, though wooing her the while with his irresistible voice. He talked for nearly two hours until she was beaten and helpless beneath his tenderness and implacable purpose.

'I don't love him,' she wailed.

'That's childish, Theo. Love between husband and wife is born of mutual interest, companionship, and children. If you mean that you feel no passion for him, then I say that it is a very good thing. Passion is fleeting, a trick of nature. Nothing more.'

'I don't want to leave you. I never thought—thought you would let me go away.'

The pain in her cry struck an answering chord in him, too, though he went on inflexibly: 'We shall not be much separated, no more than we have often been in the past. You will come here to me, and I shall visit you. You know, don't you/ that you are my chief, my dearest concern, always?'

She tried to smile. 'I thought so, yes.'

'You know so, surely. Do you remember the letter I wrote you last winter from Albany, in which I told you that the happiness of my life depended on you; for what else or whom else do I live?'

She hid her face on his shoulder.

'And are you not convinced that I know what is best for you?'

Yes. She could never doubt that. As it had always been throughout her life, a momentary rebellion gave way to the seductive joy of submission to his will.

'Oh, Papa, I know that you are the best and wisest of men. I'll do as you think right, of course, but——'

He smiled down at her. 'But me no buts, Miss Prissy. Go instead and convert your eager swain into the happiest man in the states. I see him lurking disconsolately behind the hazel bush near the dairy.'

After her first reaction to the shock, Theodosia found it not disagreeable to be engaged. No date was set for the marriage, so that could be relegated to a hazy future, and, except that she now called Mr. Alston 'Joseph' on occasion and must submit to a respectful kiss on cheek or hand, matters seemed very much as they had been.