He was anxious to do the best in his power for both his son and his niece.

He thoroughly understood that it was his duty as a father and a guardian to start them well in the world, to do all that he could for their prosperity, to feed their wants with his money, as a pelican feeds her young with blood from her bosom.

Had he known the hearts of each of them, could he have understood Marie's constancy, or the obstinate silent strength of his son's disposition, he would have let Adrian Urmand, with his business and his house at Basle, seek a wife in any other quarter where he listed, and would have joined together the hands of these two whom he loved, with a paternal blessing.

But he did not understand.
He thought that he saw everything when he saw nothing;--and now he was deceiving his son; for it was untrue that Marie had any such 'liking' for Adrian Urmand as that of which George had spoken.
'It is as good as settled, then ?' said George, not showing by any tone of his voice the anxiety with which the question was asked.
'I think it is as good as settled,' Michel answered.

Before they got back to the inn, George had thanked his father for his liberal offer, had declared that he would accede to Madame Faragon's proposition, and had made his father understand that he must return to Colmar on the next Monday,--two days before that on which Urmand was expected at Granpere.
The Monday came, and hitherto there had been no word of explanation between George and Marie.