"I don't know that I should prove any obstacle to that," says the Colonel; "it would depend, of course, on the manner in which she proposed to settle herself."
"Of course," says the girl, looking at him keenly; "that is just it; and, if I may be excused for saying so, I don't think hers was in your way."
"Very likely not. Please understand you are to say everything and anything that comes into your head and you think relates to the business we have in hand. I imagine, from the hint in your letter, that the gentleman of whom we have spoken, Mr. ----, how do you call him?"
"Mr. Douglas--Paul Douglas."
"Ay, Mr. Douglas--had come to town. On inquiry, I find this is not the case."
"No, but she hears from him constantly; and though she never shows me his letters, I can gather from what she says that there has been something in the last one or two of them which has upset her very much."
"You have not the least idea what this something may be? Do you imagine he proposes to break with her?"
"On the contrary, I think she discovers that his love for her is even deeper than she imagined, and I think that her conscience is reproaching her a little in regard to him."
The Colonel looks up astonished.
"Who can have benefited by any lapse or waywardness of which these conscience-stings can be the result?" he asks. "Not I for one."