ue. I claim you, as surely as I now hold your
hand--"

"Hush!"

There were two people coming into the room; he did not care if there
were a regiment. He relinquished her hand, it is true; but there was a
proud and grateful look on his face; he did not even turn to regard the
new-comers.

These were Madame Potecki and Calabressa. The little Polish lady had
misconstrued Natalie's parting words to mean that some visitors had
arrived, and that she and Calabressa were to follow when they pleased.
Now that they had appeared in the drawing-room, they could not fail to
perceive how matters stood, and, in fact, the little gentlewoman was on
the point of retiring. But Natalie was quite mistress of the situation.
She reminded Madame Potecki that she had met Mr. Brand before. She
introduced Calabressa to the stranger, saying that he was a friend of
her father's.

"It is opportune--it is a felicitous circumstance," said Calabressa, in
his nasal French. "Mademoiselle, behold the truth. If I do not have a
cigarette after my food, I die--veritably I die! Now your friend, the
friend of the house, surely he will take compassion on me; and we will
have a cigarette together in some apartment."

Here he touched Brand's elbow, having sidled up to him. On any other
occasion Brand would have resented the touch, the invitation, the mere
presence of this theatrical-looking albino. But he was not in a captious
mood. How could he refuse when he heard Natalie say, in her soft, low
voice,

"Will you be so kind, Mr. Brand? Anneli will light up papa's little
smoking-room."

Directly afterward he found himself in the small study, alone with this
odd-looking person, whom he easily recognized as the stranger who had
been walking in the Park with Natalie in the morning. Closer inspection
rendered him less afraid of this rival.

Calabressa rolled a cigarette between his fingers, and lit it.

"I ask your pardon, monsieur. I ask your pardon beforehand. I am about
to be impertinent; it is necessary. If you will tell me some things, I
will tell you some things which it may be better for you to know. First,
then, I assume that you wish to marry that dear child, that beautiful
young lady up-stairs."

"My good friend, you are a little bit too outrageous," said Brand.

"Ah! Then I must begin. You know, perhaps, that the mother of this young
lady is alive?"

"Alive!"

"I perceive you do not know," said Calabressa, coolly. "I thought you
would kno