Here Genius, who had been greatly interested throughout, interrupted him.
“And do you mean to say he went away without saying a word?”
“Who? Virginius?”
“Why, no. The human being.”
“Well, no. In this world we are never distinctly brutal to each other till we cannot avoid it, and politeness oils the wheels of life. So when he had turned away he turned back again. ‘Will you keep your father waiting?’ said he.
“‘What’s the good of letting the cat out of the bag?’ said I; so he took my advice and went on alone, which was just as I wanted. But Deborah, who didn’t need much telling when she was going in quest of her father, got up, and that was rather different from what I wanted.”
“And what happened to them?”
“Well, I can hardly tell. I believe she saw a Will-o’-the-wisp shining in the forest and took it for something else.” He looked intently at Genius and laughed. Then he continued,—
“As for the man, well, I would not presume to say.”
“And that is the end of the dream?”