et with
a refusal, he replied:

"Propose to her immediately, my dear fellow, or would you rather that I
did it for you?"

But the Baron grew suddenly nervous, and said, with some hesitation:

"No, ... no.... I must go to Paris for ... for a few days. As soon as I
come back, I will give you a definite answer." No other explanation was
forthcoming, and he started the next morning.

He made a long stay. One, two, three weeks passed, but Monsieur de
Coutelier did not return, and the Courvilles, who were surprised and
uneasy, did not know what to say to their friend, whom they had informed
of the Baron's wishes. Every other day they sent to his house for news of
him, but none of his servants had a line.

But one evening, while Madame Vilers was singing, and accompanying
herself on the piano, a servant came with a mysterious air, and told
Monsieur de Courville that a gentleman wanted to see him. It was the
Baron, in a traveling suit, who looked much altered and older, and as
soon as he saw his old friend, he seized both his hands, and said, in a
somewhat tired voice: "I have just returned, my dear friend, and I have
come to you immediately; I am thoroughly knocked up."

Then he hesitated in visible embarrassment, and presently said:

"I wished to tell you ... immediately ... that ... that business ... you
know what I mean ... must come to nothing."

Monsieur de Courville looked at him in stupefaction. "Must come to
nothing?... Why?"

"Oh! Do not ask me, please; it would be too painful for me to tell
you; but you may rest assured that I am acting like an honorable man.
I cannot ... I have no right ... no right, you understand, to marry this
lady, and I will wait until she has gone, to come here again; it would be
too painful for me to see her. Good-bye." And he absolutely ran away.

The whole family deliberated and discussed the matter, surmising a
thousand things. The conclusion they came to was, that the Baron's past
life concealed some great mystery, that, perhaps, he had natural
children, or some connection of long standing. At any rate, the matter
seemed serious, and so as to avoid any difficult complications, they
adroitly informed Madame Vilers of the state of affairs, who returned
home just as much of a widow as she had come.

Three months more passed, when one evening, when he had dined rather too
well, and was rather unsteady on his legs, Monsieur de Coutelier, while
he was smoking his pipe with Monsieur