"Thank you," replied the girl, earnestly. "I can never do enough to prove to you my love and gratitude. My brother will be as pleased as I am when I introduce you to him by-and-by. They are very slow in forming the procession, it seems to me," continued Gabrielle. "They have no right to keep a sister waiting so long for her brother's triumphal entry."
"Nor a mother who is longing to applaud her son," added George, in a somewhat questioning tone.
"Mamma? Oh, yes, she is fond of Albert, but she will wait quite contentedly, as her intended husband is with her."
"Her intended husband?"
"Ah! I forgot to tell you that she expects to marry the person she just introduced to you, Monsieur Jacques Rochas."
"Your father's former partner?"
"That is the title my mother gives him. The truth is, he was formerly a foreman at the iron works. He subsequently became superintendent, and, after my father's death, he leased the works. He made a good deal of money, and finally purchased the place from us. It seems that he has just disposed of it very advantageously, and is now much richer than we are."
"But it cannot be for the sake of his money that your mother wishes to marry him?"
"No, though my father only left her one fourth of his property. She likes Monsieur Rochas, but, for myself, I cannot imagine what attraction she can possibly find in a man who has a very limited education, and whom she formerly regarded as an inferior. He looks very like a farrier, and he is stern and gloomy, as well as taciturn."
"I noticed that he did not greet me very cordially just now. I am inclined to think that he will not approve of our marriage."