A fire burned on the hearth, and an inviting dinner was on the table.

Saniel looked at it in surprise.
"I have set the table, you see; I am going to dine with you." And throwing herself in his arms: "Knowing Caffie better than you do, I knew what his answer would be, and I did not wish you to be alone on your return.

I made an excuse for not dining with mamma." "But this chicken ?" "We must have a piece de resistance." "This fire, and these candles ?" "There, that is the end of my economies.

I should have been so happy if they had been less miserable and more useful." As on the previous evening, they sat before the fire, and she began to talk of various things in order to distract him.

But what their lips did not say, their eyes, on meeting, expressed with more intensity than words could do.
It was Saniel who suddenly betrayed his preoccupation.
"Your brother studied Caffie well," he said, as if speaking to himself.
"He did, indeed!" "He is certainly the most thorough rascal that I have ever met." "He proposed something infamous, I am sure." "He proposed that I should marry." "I suspected that." "This is the reason why he refuses to lend me the money.