"Heavens! What has happened?" asked Leonie, uneasily. "Nothing serious, I hope?"
Hagenbach's looks certainly portended something serious, as he drew forth his nephew's poetic effusion from his coat-pocket, and handed it to the lady with the air of one bringing the worst of news.
"Read, please!"
Leonie began to read, conning the verse from beginning to end with an indescribable tranquillity, nay, a smile even quivered about her lips. The doctor, who waited in vain for an expression of indignation, saw himself, finally, compelled to come to the aid of her understanding.
"It is a poem," he enlightened her.
"So I perceive."
"And it is addressed to you."
"According to all probability, inasmuch as my name stands at the head."
"Why, is that pleasant to you?" cried Hagenbach hotly. "You find it all right, do you, for him to fall at your feet--' that is the phrase used by the scribbler."
Still smiling, Leonie shrugged her shoulders. "Let your nephew indulge his little romance; it is harmless enough. I really have no objection to it."