"Wretched? you, Carmela?" he exclaimed anxiously. "Great Heaven, what has happened then?"
By a supreme effort, the maiden succeeded in calming herself; her features reassumed their ordinary tranquillity, she wiped away her tears, and smiled at the hunter, who anxiously watched her.
"Pardon me, father," she said in an insinuating voice, "I am mad."
"No, no," he replied, shaking his head twice or thrice; "you are not mad, my child, but are concealing something from me."
"Father!" she said with a blush, and looked down in confusion.
"Be frank with me, child, for am I not your best friend?"
"That is true," she stammered.
"Have I ever refused to satisfy the slightest of your wishes?"
"Oh, never!"
"Have you ever found me severe to you?"