"Do you know," he said next, "that I have come to-night partly for the reason that I have something to tell you?"
"I rather suspected it," she replied, "though I could scarcely explain why."
"Am I to hear it, too?" inquired Agnes.
"If you are kind enough to be interested," he answered. "It will seem a slight enough affair to the world at large, but it seems rather tremendous to me. I feel a trifle overpowered and nervous. Through the kind efforts of Professor Herrick I have been honored with the offer of a place abroad."
Bertha held out her hand.
"Minister to the Court of St. James!" she said. "How they will congratulate themselves in London!"
"They would," he replied, "if an ill-adjusted and singularly unappreciative government had not particularized a modest corner of Germany as standing in greater need of my special abilities." But he took her offered hand.
When he glanced at Mrs. Sylvestre—truth to say he had taken some precautions against seeing her at all as he made his announcement—he found her bestowing upon him one of the calmest of her soft, reflective looks.
"I used to like some of those quiet places in Germany," she said; "but you will find it a change from Washington."