It was to be expected that a young fellow with means to please himself should choose to have a good-looking wife to sit at his table with him.

Who'll blame him for that?
And he has found the prettiest in all the country round.

But he has wanted something more than good looks,--and he has got a great deal more.

Yes; I say it, I, Michel Voss, though I am your uncle;--that he has got the pride of the whole country round.

My darling, my own one, my child!' All this was said with many interjections, and with sundry pauses in the speech, during which Michel caressed his niece, and pressed her to his breast, and signified his joy by all the outward modes of expression which a man so demonstrative knows how to use.