"Don't mention it, pray."
The Councillor hoped and expected that this irrepressible suitor would now deliver him from his presence; but he was soon undeceived. Instead of taking his leave, the young man drew forward a chair, and sat down opposite him.
"So I may reckon on your consent to my marriage with your daughter?" Max began again.
Moser would have blazed forth anew, but he thought of the tendency to apoplexy and the necessity of avoiding all excitement, and therefore replied with all the calm he could command:
"No; a thousand times no! I do not believe that Agnes can so far forget herself as to entertain an affection for you. She has, of her own free will, chosen a religious life. She is an obedient daughter, a pious Catholic."
"And will, I am sure, make an excellent wife," wound up Max. "Besides, after all, I am a Catholic myself."
Moser folded his hands.
"Ah, what sort of one?" he groaned.
"I only mean that the religion need not be an obstacle. My position, I must confess, is rather a modest one at present; but it may satisfy a wife who has not very soaring pretentions. As for my character and habits, my father-in-law----"
"For Heaven's sake, let me have no more of your father-in-law. I will not endure it. You are an impertinent, a most obnoxious person."