'Well;--I don't know that it would be fair to tell that. Marie is
not a girl likely to jump into a man's arms at the first word. But
I think there is no doubt that they will be betrothed before Sunday
week. He is to be here again on Wednesday.'

'She likes him, then?'

'O, yes; of course she likes him.' Michel Voss had not intended to
say a word that was false. He was anxious to do the best in his
power for both his son and his niece. He thoroughly understood that
it was his duty as a father and a guardian to start them well in the
world, to do all that he could for their prosperity, to feed their
wants with his money, as a pelican feeds her young with blood from
her bosom. Had he known the hearts of each of them, could he have
understood Marie's constancy, or the obstinate silent strength of
his son's disposition, he would have let Adrian Urmand, with his
business and his house at Basle, seek a wife in any other quarter
where he listed, and would have joined together the hands of these
two whom he loved, with a paternal blessing. But he did not
understand. He thought that he saw everything when he saw nothing;-
-and now he was deceiving his son; for it was untrue that Marie had
any such 'liking' for Adrian Urmand as that of which George had
spoken.

'It is as good as settled, then?' said George, not showing by any
tone of his voice the anxiety with which the question was asked.

'I think it is as good as settled,' Michel answered. Before they
got back to the inn, George had thanked his father for his liberal