of her
parentage.

"So the days and weeks fled by so happy, till once again those plans
began to take form and shape that had so long laid dormant after the
arrival of Jeanette. The voice of my manhood urged me insistently to
throw off the fetters that bound me and advance bravely into the seething
world of men and from it wrest the so well-earned fruit of my
endeavor--for I was ambitious and rebelled at being shut within four
walls, where each detail of my life was arranged for me as if I had still
been a child.

"Yet I liked little the thought of leaving my sweet Jeanette alone in
that gloomy house. But, on the other hand, how could I aspire to help if
I remained at home?"

"That night Jeanette and I talked long--ah, I shall never forget it!--and
it was then she urged, with tears of earnestness in her dear eyes, not to
think of her, but to do as I judged best. I have seen her as she looked
that night so many, many weary days!"

Here there was a long pause in the narrative, and it was not till Mr.
Payton prompted, softly, "And then----"

"Well, then, Monsieur, events flowed along easily enough till it was
about a week to the time we had set for my departure. Then, one night, I
came upon Jeanette suddenly and, to my great alarm and dismay, I
discovered her in tears.

"'Jeanne!' I cried. 'My little Jeanne, tell me what is wrong!'

"But she would not answer me, only sobbing out in a way that broke my
heart that 'I must go away, and never, never see her again!'

"Then it was, while I was still stunned and stupefied by the change in
her, that a servant brought me a message from my father. He wished to see
me on the instant.

"I made one last, agonized appeal to Jeanette, but she kept her face
averted and answered me nothing, and I, stricken, bewildered, hardly
knowing what I did, followed the servant to my father's rooms.

"I found him pacing the room with an angry scowl upon his face and an air
that augured ill for me. Far from being taken aback, I welcomed this
attitude of my father. I felt, somehow, that he was to blame for the
tears of my Jeanette. I could have fallen upon him, doing him bodily
injury, so great and terrible was my anger. With an effort, I conquered
this first mad impulse and waited, with hands so tightly clenched that
the nails bit deep into the flesh.

"I had not long to wait. At the sound of the opening door my father
whirled and, with an imperious gesture, ordered the servant to retire.