Grimm caught the girl's look of dumb entreaty, misread it, manlike, and hurried on:
"Come, girl, we've no time to be coy. Promise me you'll consent, Katje. We'll make it a June wedding. We have ten days yet. And——"
"Oh, I couldn't!" protested the poor girl. "Really, I couldn't."
"Nonsense, little girl. It's the easiest thing in the world to get ready to be happy. Ten days is plenty. And you——"
"We can get your trousseau later," put in Frederik eagerly.
"Fritz!" cried the old man, exasperated. "Will you keep out of this? Who is managing it? You or I? In ten days, then, Katje? Please!"
"Why," she stammered, wretchedly at a loss, "if it will make you so happy, Oom Peter—if it means so much to you——"
"It does. It does!"
"I owe everything to you——"
"Then give me the privilege of seeing you a happy, contented wife, and we will write 'Paid' across the bill."