as you say, Brutus is gone. He is out to receive a message I am
expecting, which can hardly be delivered at the front door. You were
saying--Doubtless Mademoiselle will pardon us--"

"Mademoiselle," I went on, "will even be interested. I have wanted to
speak to you so that I might explain myself. Since I have been here I
fear I have been impulsive. You must lay it to my youth, father."

He nodded a grave assent.

"You must not apologize. It has been quite refreshing."

"And yet I am not so young. I am twenty-three."

"Can it be possible?" exclaimed my father. "I had almost forgotten that
I was so near the grave."

"I came to see you here," I continued, "because, as my uncle said, you
are my father. I came here because--because I thought--" I paused and
drew a deep breath, and my father smiled.

"Why I came is aside from the point, at any rate," I said.

"Indeed yes," agreed my father, "and have we not been over the
matter before?"

"If you had accorded me one serious word, it might have been different,"
I continued; "but instead, sir, you have seen fit to jest. It is not what
you have done this morning, sir, as much as your manner towards me, which
makes me take this step. That you have brought a lady from France and