ABSTRACT
Midway through Elsie's Womanhood (1875), volume four of the Elsie Dinsmore series, Martha Finley presents her readers with an intimate moment between Elsie and her father, Horace Dinsmore. Elsie is about to wed her father's closest friend, Edward Travilla, and “Papa” tearily regards his daughter bedecked in her bridal gear:
“My darling!” murmured her father, in low, half tremulous accents, putting his arm about the slender waist, “my beautiful darling! How can I give you to another?” and again and again his lips were pressed to hers in long, passionate kisses. (123–124)
