e spoken of his personal history or home
life. Several times I had spent the evening at his house, but on these
occasions I had seen only himself. Certain womanly belongings, however,
which I had noticed, and the sound of a piano once or twice, had
suggested that the house might not be without a feminine presence. The
professor now told me that long ago in France, for a few short, blissful
years, he had been the husband of the sweetest of women. She had left
behind a daughter, the sole companion of his life and the apple of his
eye. She lived in complete seclusion, rarely even leaving the house. He
did not desire her to make acquaintances in this country, nor indeed
was she able to speak a word of any language but her own. There was no
question of my making her acquaintance in the ordinary sense, or even
of meeting her a second time, but if I desired to testify my new
appreciation of the sacred quality of womanhood, it was possible that
she might consent to receive my homage in the name of her sex. He could
not be sure what she would say, but he would speak with her about it.

"The following day, a note from him requesting that I should call at
his house that evening intimated that he had succeeded in carrying his
point. When I called at the time set, he told me that he had found it
more difficult than he had anticipated to gain his daughter's consent to
see me. She had been very reluctant to assume the attitude required of
her, and only her respect for his wishes and the good of the cause, and
the assurance he had given her of the entire ingenuousness of my own
motive, had induced her finally to yield. After some talk as to the
significance of the interview before me, which I was too much agitated
to comprehend, he bade me follow him.

"As may readily be supposed, my fancy, from the moment Regnier had
suggested this interview, had been exceedingly busy with conjectures
as to the sort of scene it would prove, and especially as to the
personality of her who was to be the central figure. Except his
intimation that the interview would be necessarily without interchange
of speech and presumably brief, scarcely more, probably, than a
confrontation, he had told me nothing.

"Of course, however, my fancies had not failed to take some form. I
think I had a general expectation of finding myself in the presence of a
beautiful woman, statuesquely shaped and posed. I imagine that I rather
expected her to be enthroned or standing