`` Frank and I will simply go to the manse , be married , and go home . If I can not invite my father to see me married , no one else shall be invited . '' Her lips narrowed tightly . For the first time in her life Isabella Spencer saw a reflection of herself looking back at her from her daughter 's face -- a strange , indefinable resemblance that was more of soul and spirit than of flesh and blood . In spite of her anger her heart thrilled to it . As never before , she realized that this girl was her own and her husband 's child , a living bond between them wherein their conflicting natures mingled and were reconciled . She realized too , that Rachel , so long sweetly meek and obedient , meant to have her own way in this case -- and would have it . `` I must say that I ca n't see why you are so set on having your father see you married , '' she said with a bitter sneer . `` HE has never remembered that he is your father . He cares nothing about you -- never did care . '' Rachel took no notice of this taunt . It had no power to hurt her , its venom being neutralized by a secret knowledge of her own in which her mother had no share . `` Either I shall invite my father to my wedding , or I shall not have a wedding , '' she repeated steadily , adopting her mother 's own effective tactics of repetition undistracted by argument . `` Invite him then , '' snapped Mrs. Spencer , with the ungraceful anger of a woman , long accustomed to having her own way , compelled for once to yield . `` It 'll be like chips in porridge anyhow -- neither good nor harm . He wo n't come . '' Rachel made no response . Now that the battle was over , and the victory won , she found herself tremulously on the verge of tears . She rose quickly and went upstairs to her own room , a dim little place shadowed by the white birches growing thickly outside -- a virginal room , where everything bespoke the maiden . She lay down on the blue and white patchwork quilt on her bed , and cried softly and bitterly .
Her heart , at this crisis in her XXXXX , yearned for her father , who was almost a stranger to her .
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