Cecilia's heart ached with a little ache for all the times she had thought: 'If father were only not quite so---'; for all the times she had shunned asking him to come to them, because he was so---; for all the silences she and Stephen had maintained after he had spoken; for all the little smiles she had smiled. She longed to go and kiss his brow, and make him feel that she was aching. But she did not dare; he seemed so far away; it would be ridiculous.
Coming down the room, and putting her slim foot on the fender with a noise, so that if possible he might both see and hear her, she turned her anxious face towards him, and said: "Father!"
Mr. Stone looked up, and seeing somebody who seemed to be his elder daughter, answered "Yes, my dear?"
"Are you sure you're feeling quite the thing? Thyme said she thought seeing that poor baby had upset you."
Yes,Mr. Stone felt his body with his hand.
Yes,"I am not conscious of any pain," he said.
Yes,"Then you'll stay to dinner, dear, won't you?"
Yes,Mr. Stone's brow contracted as though he were trying to recall his past.
Yes,
