of moderate fortune, very moderate; but wealth
should not be the first consideration, you know! He is a fine, noble,
generous, chivalrous fellow, and I like and admire him. And more than
this--more than all else, he is my dear daughter's choice, and as such I
shall welcome him into the family circle."

"Oh, papa, papa!" moaned Odalite, pierced through the heart by the thought
of how little her father knew of the real character of the man, the real
circumstances of the case, and how impossible it was for her to enlighten
him.

"Still so grave, my little one? It is of Leonidas you are thinking! Do not
fret your tender heart about him, my darling girl! If you, after three
years separation from your boyish lover, have changed toward him--of
which, in your secluded home, there was about one chance in a hundred of
your doing--be sure that he, in his long absence from his childish
sweetheart, on his long cruise around the world, has half forgotten the
baby girl he left behind--as there must have been a hundred chances to one
that he would. I think he will in time be able to console himself with
your sister. It is all in the family, you know!" he said, looking down
quizzically at the young face by his side.

But, somehow, the expression of that face did not convey the idea of any
great satisfaction. Quite the contrary. Odalite looked ready to cry.

"I do believe girls, with their lovers, are like dogs in the manger; they
can't marry them all, and yet they are not willing that any other girl
should have any of the rejected ones! Sweet angel!--the girl of the
nineteenth century!"

"I do not think," murmured Odalite, breaking in upon her father's silent
criticism--"I do not think, judging from Le's letters, that he has ever
changed toward me. No, papa, I do not wish to justify myself by accusing
Le."

"Le's letters, my dear! Why, they afford the strongest proofs to my mind
that he is not, and never has been, the least bit in love with you."

Odalite looked up in surprise.

"My dear, you have no experience, or you would never mistake Le's
practical epistles for love letters. Why, you let all the family read
them! You could not if they were love letters."

"Why, papa?"

"Because, my dear, if they were, they would be much too silly to be shown.
You would not think so; but you would have sense enough left to know that
other people would; and so you would hide them. But Le's letters are
laudably practical and fit to be show