d?--Oh, I can understand it all."

"_Mais chere_ little Lisa, _dites-nous donc, ce que vous savez_," urged
Madame Bonnechose.

Lisa shook her head. "There are things which we understand and yet for
which there are no words. When I stood on the plain of Marathon with
Katakasianopulos that time, it seemed to me as if I distinctly
understood all the pain that was to come upon us, but express it--that
I could not have done."

"Ah, dear child," said Countess Betty dejectedly, "that will not
help us now."

Marion came and reported once more that in Billy's room everything was
quite still.

"Oh dear, oh dear," sighed Countess Betty; she could not calmly sit
still, so she rose and went over to see her brother.

Count Hamilcar lay in his room on the sofa; he was keeping his eyes
shut, his face was strangely sallow, and the features seemed sharper
and more pointed than usual. When his sister came to a stop before him,
he opened his eyes and looked at her with a glance which had the
indifference of a man who to be sure surveys us, but whose thoughts and
dreams are very far from us.

"Still no certainty," said Countess Betty whimperingly. "She admits
nobody, saying she wants to sleep."

"Let her sleep," answered the count.

"Yes, but she might let us in," wailed the old lady further, "what is
all this? all these affairs? the whole house is whispering. The
Professor's family will leave today and carry the story all over the
country, and you, Hamilcar, you don't say anything either."

The count raised himself slightly. "No, Betty," he said, "I say
nothing, because I know nothing. We cannot prevent others from talking,
but we ought not to speak until there is need for it. Let the child
sleep, then she shall tell you everything, and then, Betty, I shall say
my say too. Will it soon be time for breakfast?"

"Oh, Hamilcar," replied Countess Betty intimidated, "you surely won't
come to breakfast, you are so unstrung."

The count laid his finger along his nose and said sharply, "I shall
come, and I hope it will be on time as usual. Also I did not hear you
sing a hymn: did you not have the accustomed worship?"

"No, we were so excited, you see," the old lady excused herself, but
the count was dissatisfied.

"You are wrong, Betty, have your worship as you do every Sunday; but
if I may request it, no reference to these happenings in the Bible
reading or in the prayer, just ordinary devotions. It is not our fault
that someth