CHAPTER XXV.
When supper was announced, I went upstairs again to show my aunt the way to the room in which we took our meals.
"Well ?" I said.
"Well," she answered coolly, "Madame Fontaine has promised to reconsider it." I confess I was staggered.

By what possible motives could the widow have been animated?
Even Mr.Engelman's passive assistance was now of no further importance to her.

She had gained Mr.Keller's confidence; her daughter's marriage was assured; her employment in the house offered her a liberal salary, a respectable position, and a comfortable home.

Why should she consent to reconsider the question of marrying a man, in whom she could not be said to feel any sort of true interest, in any possible acceptation of the words?
I began to think that my aunt was right, and that I really did know absolutely nothing about women.
At supper Madame Fontaine and her daughter were both unusually silent.
Open-hearted Minna was not capable of concealing that her mother's concession had been made known to her in some way, and that the disclosure had disagreeably surprised her.

However, there was no want of gaiety at the table--thanks to my aunt, and to her faithful attendant.
Jack Straw followed us into the room, without waiting to be invited, and placed himself, to Joseph's disgust, behind Mrs.Wagner's chair.
"Nobody waits on Mistress at table," he explained, "but me.