Chez Van Heldre.
The two friends parted at the gate, Madelaine refusing to go in.
“No,” she said; “they will be expecting me at home.”
“Maddy dear, ought we not to confide in each other?”
“Ah!” exclaimed Madelaine, with a sigh of relief that the constraint was over. “Yes, dear. Did Mr Pradelle propose to you?”
“Yes.”
“And you told him it was impossible?”
“Yes. What did my brother want to say?”
“That we ought to be married now, and it would make him a better man.”
“And you told him it was impossible?”