e.
That may come--or it may not."

"Ah, well, it may! That 's the great point."

"It depends upon her father. He does n't smile upon our union. You know
he wants her to marry Mr. Brand."

"I know nothing about it!" cried the Baroness. "Please to put on a log."
Felix complied with her request and sat watching the quickening of
the flame. Presently his sister added, "And you propose to elope with
mademoiselle?"

"By no means. I don't wish to do anything that 's disagreeable to Mr.
Wentworth. He has been far too kind to us."

"But you must choose between pleasing yourself and pleasing him."

"I want to please every one!" exclaimed Felix, joyously. "I have a good
conscience. I made up my mind at the outset that it was not my place to
make love to Gertrude."

"So, to simplify matters, she made love to you!"

Felix looked at his sister with sudden gravity. "You say you are not
afraid of her," he said. "But perhaps you ought to be--a little. She 's
a very clever person."

"I begin to see it!" cried the Baroness. Her brother, making no
rejoinder, leaned back in his chair, and there was a long silence. At
last, with an altered accent, Madame Munster put another question. "You
expect, at any rate, to marry?"

"I shall be greatly disappointed if we don't."

"A disappointment or two will do you good!" the Baroness declared. "And,
afterwards, do you mean to turn American?"

"It seems to me I am a very good American already. But we shall go to
Europe. Gertrude wants extremely to see the world."

"Ah, like me, when I came here!" said the Baroness, with a little laugh.

"No, not like you," Felix rejoined, looking at his sister with a certain
gentle seriousness. While he looked at her she rose from her chair, and
he also got up. "Gertrude is not at all like you," he went on; "but in
her own way she is almost as clever." He paused a moment; his soul was
full of an agreeable feeling and of a lively disposition to express it.
His sister, to his spiritual vision, was always like the lunar disk when
only a part of it is lighted. The shadow on this bright surface seemed
to him to expand and to contract; but whatever its proportions, he
always appreciated the moonlight. He looked at the Baroness, and then
he kissed her. "I am very much in love with Gertrude," he said. Eugenia
turned away and walked about the room, and Felix continued. "She is very
interesting, and very different from what she seems. She has never had
a chance