than on any other day since you left us.'

'I sent word by Edmond Greisse,' said George. Edmond was
interrogated, and declared that he had forgotten to give the
message. George was too clever to pursue the matter any farther,
and when he first met Marie Bromar, there was not a word said
between them beyond what might have been said between any young
persons so related, after an absence of twelve months. George Voss
was very careful to make no demonstration of affection for a girl
who had forgotten him, and who was now, as he believed, betrothed to
another man; and Marie was determined that certainly no sign of the
old love should first be shown by her. He had come back,--perhaps
just in time. He had returned just at the moment in which something
must be decided. She had felt how much there was in the little word
which she had spoken to her uncle. When a girl says that she will
try to reconcile herself to a man's overtures, she has almost
yielded. The word had escaped her without any such meaning on her
part,--had been spoken because she had feared to continue to
contradict her uncle in the full completeness of a positive refusal.
She had regretted it as soon as it had been spoken, but she could
not recall it. She had seen in her uncle's eye and had heard in the
tone of his voice for how much that word had been taken;--but it had
gone forth from her mouth, and she could not now rob it of its
meaning. Adrian Urmand was to be back at Granpere in a few days--in
ten days Michel Voss had said; and there were those ten days for her
in which to resolve what she would do. Now, as though sent from
heaven, George had returned, in this very interval of time. Might
it not be that he would help her out of her difficulty? If he would
only tell her to remain single for his sake, she would certainly
turn her back upon her Swiss lover, let her uncle say what he might.