has been spoken of--it is already
a common topic of conversation."

"Indeed! A common topic of conversation! Well, I have no objection,
provided my good-natured friends do not say any thing injurious, or
wound the lady's feelings by an improper use of my name."

He paused for a moment, and lowering his voice, then went on,

"You never said any thing of this before."

"Why should I? The inquiry was never made of me before."

"I have made no inquiry," he retorted. "I didn't ask you to confess. You
have avowed it all yourself, unconsciously."

I felt that the dwarf was getting serious, and that he was likely to
make me more in earnest before he was done than I had at first
anticipated. I saw the necessity of showing him at once that I would not
brook his interference, and I addressed him in a more deliberate tone
than I had hitherto adopted.

"Allow me to ask," I demanded, "what interest you may take in this
matter, and by what right you assume the office of interrogating me so
authoritatively?"

"By what right?" he answered. "My right to do so is rather clearer than
your right to refuse an explanation. You met her at my mother's
house--you meet her there. She is under our roof, under our guardianship
and protection. That gives me the right. It is not pleasant to interfere
in this way; but I am called upon to do so by my position, and I delayed
it in the hope that you would render it unnecessary."

"Why should you hope so? Why should you desire any explanation on the
subject? The lady is her own mistress: she is under your roof, it is
true; but not under your control. The same thing might happen under any
other roof, and nobody would thereby acquire a right to interfere in a
matter that concerns her alone. You will surely see the propriety of not
suffering your curiosity to meddle any further in the affair?"

"Meddle!" he reiterated; "control! Are these the phrases with which you
taunt me? But," dropping his voice again, he added, "you are right in
suggesting that I have discharged my office when I demand, to what end
those very marked attentions are paid to Astraea?"

"You make an unwarrantable demand, and you shall have a fitting answer
to it; and my answer is, that to Astraea alone will I confide my
confession, as you call it. She is old enough and wise enough to think
and act for herself; nor will I consent to compromise my respect for her
understanding by admitting that she requires an arbitrator--perhaps