“Well, Felix,” he said at last, “I am sorry that our conversation has had no better result. I hoped you would clear this matter up and, if you need help, would let me give you whatever advice and aid I could. Think the matter over more carefully and if you should see it in a different light come to me at any time and let me see what I can do for you.”
“I thank you, Dr. Annister. I shall keep your kindness in mind, although I do not suppose I shall have any more occasion to make use of it in the future than I have now. But Mildred—” he hesitated as he turned an anxious countenance upon his companion. “You are not going to forbid our marriage on account of these baseless and unjust notions of yours?”
Down in his heart Dr. Annister was at that moment deciding that his daughter should never become this man’s wife unless all his apprehensions and fears were first cleared away. But he feared the effect upon Mildred, especially at this juncture, of a forced breaking of the engagement. So he temporized.
“No, I shall not forbid it, or at least, not now. But I can not consent to a marriage in the early future, as you have both begged me to do. You will have to wait a while longer, Felix, and prove yourself worthy. I don’t like these mysterious disappearances.”
After Brand had gone the little doctor dropped down into his favorite arm-chair in his usual attitude of profound thought. “Poor Mildred! Poor little girl!” he was thinking. “I guess her mother had better take her abroad this summer and let us see if change and travel and absence won’t have some effect on her devotion. It would be awfully lonely for me here, Mildred would be wretchedly unhappy and Margaret would have a devil of a time. Still, the experiment will be worth trying.”
CHAPTER XVI
Mrs. Fenlow Is Angry
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