“Oh, yes,” replied Leonie, “I love him; of course I love him, or I never would have accepted him. But I don’t mean to say, positively and finally, that I would refuse a better chance if it presented itself. Julius is the only person who seems likely to want me, and certainly he is a great deal better than nobody.”
“Yes; but, my dear child,” observed Mr. Cowdrick, “a mere husband is nothing. The circumstances of the husband are everything.”
“And Mr. Weems is poor as poverty,” added Mrs. Cowdrick.
“Oh, no, mamma, you are mistaken,” said Leonie. “Julius is in very comfortable circumstances. He has a very profitable business.”
“He has, has he?” said Mr. Cowdrick. “Well, I can’t imagine where it can be. I never have seen any of his pictures.”
“Why, papa,” rejoined Leonie with a slight laugh. “Julius says that you have two of his best works in your gallery.”
“I have,” exclaimed Mr. Cowdrick, in astonishment. “I think not.”
“He says so, at any rate.”
“Which are they?”
“Why, the ‘Leader and the Swan,’ by Correggio, and the ‘St. Lawrence,’ by Titian.”