"It'll be a June wedding," Frederik went on, "just as Oom Peter wished."
Kathrien forced herself to speak brightly.
"Yes—just as he wished. Everything is just as he——" she broke off suddenly with a change of manner, and gazed at Frederik with beseeching earnestness.
"Frederik, I don't want to go away. I don't want to take this journey to Europe. If only I could stay quietly in—in my own dear home!"
CHAPTER X
A WASTED PLEA
Frederik concealed his annoyance as best he could, and smiled affectionately at the little bride-to-be, trying to coax her out of her mood. He looked around the familiar room a bit scornfully.
"Huh! This old cottage with its candles and lamps and shadows! What does it amount to? Wait until I've shown you the home I want you to have—the house Mrs. Frederik Grimm should live in."
He patted her arm once or twice as he spoke, to give further weight to his words; but they seemed lost on Kathrien. Her eyes grew more and more troubled and her sweet face increasingly wistful.