"Well! There is only one way. It must come from you and not from me. You are an indulged child; they let you say anything and are not surprised at any audacity on your part. Listen, then! This evening on returning home, go to your mother first, and tell her that you want to marry me. She will be very much agitated and very angry."
Suzanne interrupted him: "Oh, mamma would be glad."
He replied quickly: "No, no, you do not know her. She will be more vexed than your father. But you must insist, you must not yield; you must repeat that you will marry me and me alone. Will you do so?"
"I will."
"And on leaving your mother, repeat the same thing to your father very decidedly."
"Well, and then—"
"And then matters will reach a climax! If you are determined to be my wife, my dear, dear, little Suzanne, I will elope with you."
She clapped her hands, as all the charming adventures in the romances she had read occurred to her, and cried:
"Oh, what bliss! When will you elope with me?"
He whispered very low: "To-night!"