"He is my fiancé," she said.
— VI —
THE GIFT
Father Anton, with a smile, his eyes twinkling, looked from one to the other of the group as much as to say: "There! Is that not an altogether charming denouement?" Myrna had yet to discover herself in a situation to whose command she did not rise—inwardly a sudden confusion upon her, her face expressed a polite interest. As for Henry Bliss, the words were without any significance whatever—it was not what he wanted to know.
It was Marie-Louise, embarrassed, who broke the silence.
"Will mademoiselle and monsieur look through the house now, and tell me what rooms they will occupy?"
Henry Bliss, for answer, caught Father Anton again by the shoulder.
"This Jean Laparde," he flung out excitedly, "you ought to know all about him! He must have done other things besides this"—he swept his hand toward the beacon, which he had now very carefully replaced on the table.
"But, of course!" declared Father Anton, still smiling. "Mother Fregeau will assure you—forever little faces and figures out of her dough and the inside of her loaves."