"Do you think so?" asked Bidaud, anxiously.
"I am sure of it. Even now she rules me."
Bidaud shook his head with a sad smile. "That is not a proof. You are content to be ruled, and what passes between you springs from affection. The strength of character required to battle with the world is of a different kind from that which Annette exhibits towards you. The service I ask you to render me concerns Annette."
"Why, then," said Basil, gaily, "it is rendered before you ask for it."
"You must know its nature before you consent. It is nothing more nor less, Basil, than that you should stand to my child in the light of guardian."
Basil started. The tone in which this was spoken was that of a man who was convinced that the world was slipping from him.
"Surely you are alarming yourself unnecessarily," said the young man.
"I am not. There are warnings which it would be criminal to neglect, especially where there is such a vital interest at stake as the happiness of an only and beloved child. I have received these warnings and must be prepared. Say that the spiritual whisper which tells me that my end is approaching is false, is no faith to be placed in the doctor's decree that my hours are numbered? A man may have morbid fancies, but the teachings of experience and science are not to be lightly set aside and disregarded. If my fears prove groundless, so much the better for Annette; if they are confirmed--which they will be, Basil, nothing can alter it--so much the worse for her unless needful preparation is made for the crisis in her young life. Will you now consent?"
"Let me hear more fully what you have to say," replied Basil, gravely, "before I fully pledge myself. You speak of a brother and sister in your own country, and you have written to one who may appear at any moment. The claim she has upon Annette, and the authority with which the laws of nature have invested her, are stronger than those of any stranger. I am a young man, and the idea of becoming guardian to so tender and sweet a flower as Annette startles me. I ask myself, am I equal to a responsibility so serious, and the question reveals to me my own deficiencies, of which I am generally somewhat painfully aware. It is really as though the most serious page in my life was about to be opened."