“Certainly; take the easy-chair and sit down opposite; that is the best position for a talk.”
I obeyed, and she began—
“Tell me, first of all, do you now understand why I do not like receiving company?”
“Perhaps. I venture to suppose that you wish to simplify the way of living, and that the gentlemen do not approve of it. And visitors cause expense.”
“Now, indeed, it is clever of you to guess after what you have just seen!” and she laughed a merry laugh. “I see I must explain matters. But let us talk about yourself, Leopold; that will change the current of my thoughts—and they want changing in my present state of mind. You see there my constant and daily society,” she continued, looking towards the dining-room. “They have now reached the topmost point of their enjoyment—the General asleep with a cigar in his mouth, and the Captain absorbing his quantum of cognac. Afterwards he will fill his German pipe, totter off to the billiard-room, and smoke and sleep till tea-time. Come, now, as we have a full hour before us, confess yourself. Why have you not studied for a barrister?” And she fixed her large eyes on me as if she suspected that I had been rusticated.
“Simply because my good father died too soon.”
“A good father always dies too soon. Even a bad one who neglects his child is a great loss. Yours left nothing?”
“Except a widow with a very small pension—too small to maintain me at Leyden, and therefore I left after one year’s residence, as I wished to earn my own living and obtain comforts for my mother, who was in very weak health.”
“I admire you for that, Leo; a man who is not selfish, and can make sacrifices for his mother or his wife’s sake, is a rarity. It does me good to hear such men still exist.”
“Now, Francis, give me your confidence. Perhaps I can assist you in your troubles.”