are to leave this at once," continued he, "and move on to Bonn,
where we shall find a letter with your father's address, somewhere,
I take it, in that neighborhood." He waited, hoping she would say
something, but she did not speak. And then he went on:

"And then you will be once more at home,--emancipated from this tiresome
guardianship of mine."

"Why tiresome?" asked she, suddenly.

"Oh, by Jove! I know I' m very slow sort of fellow as a ladies' man;
have none of the small talents of those foreigners; couldn't tell Mozart
from Verdi; nor, though I can see when a woman is well togged, could I
tell you the exact name of any one part of her dress."

"If you really did know all these, and talked of them, I might have
found you very tiresome," said she, in that half-careless voice she
used when seeming to think aloud. "And you," asked she, suddenly, as
she turned her eyes fully upon him,--"and you, are you to be emancipated
then,--are you going to leave us?"

"As to that," replied he, in deep embarrassment, "there 'a a sort of
hitch in it I ought, if I did the right thing, to be on my way to Italy
now, to see Lackington,--my brother, I mean. I came abroad for that; but
Gr--your father, I should say--induced me to join _him_, and so, with
one thing and the other, here I am, and that's really all I know about
it."

"What a droll way to go through life!" said she, with one of her low,
soft laughs.

"If you mean that I have n't a will of my own, you 're all wrong," said
he, in some irritation. "Put me straight at my fence, and see if I won't
take it. Just say, 'A. B., there's the winning-post,' and mark whether I
won't get my speed up."

What a strange glance was that which answered this speech! It implied no
assent; as little did it mean the reverse. It was rather the look of one
who, out of a maze of tangled fancies, suddenly felt recalled to life
and its real interests. To poor Beecher's apprehension it simply seemed
a sort of half-compassionate pity, and it made his cheek tingle with
wounded pride.

"I know," muttered he to himself, "that she thinks me a confounded fool;
but I ain't. Many a fellow in the ring made that mistake, and burned his
fingers for it after."

"Well," said she, after a moment or so of thought, "I am ready; at
least, I shall be ready very soon. I 'll tell Annette to pack up and
prepare for the road."

"I wish I could get you to have some better opinion of me, Miss Lizzy,"
said he, seri