Ida concluded at once that he came with some hostile
purpose, and the name of Waymark was an incentive to her numbed
faculties.
"How can you be a friend of Osmond Waymark?" she asked, with cold
suspicion.
"Didn't he ever mention my name to you?"
"Never."
Waymark had in truth always kept silence with Ida about his
occupations, though he had spoken so freely of them to Maud. He
could not easily have explained to himself why he had made this
difference, though it had a significance. Mr. Woodstock was almost
at a loss how to proceed. He coughed, and moved his foot uneasily.
"I have known him all his life, for all that," he said. "And it was
through him I found you."
"Found me?"
"It'll seem very strange, what I have to tell you.--You were a
little girl when I saw you last, and you refused to come with me.
Had you any idea why I asked you?"
"I hadn't then."
"But you have thought of it since?"
Ida looked at him sternly, and turned her eyes away again. The
belief that he was her father had always increased the resentment
with which she recalled his face.
"I am your grandfather," Abraham said gravely. "Your mother was my
daughter."
A change came over her countenance; she gazed at him with wonder.
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