"Instead of talking nonsense, finish telling me the story of your engagement. We had got as far as where you left Bordeaux, thinking that all was over. What next?"
"Well, next, a fortnight ago, the professorship of philosophy was vacant, and papa was surprised to hear that M. Spiegel had been appointed to it. 'It is a come-down,' he said to me, 'for Pont-sur-Loire is not as good as Bordeaux'; but not at all—it was no come-down."
"It was he himself, then, who had asked for the change?"
"Exactly! and last Monday, he and his mother arrived at our house to ask papa's consent."
"What's his mother like?"
"Very nice, and good-looking still; but she seems rather severe, a little bit hard."
"Don't take any notice of that; Protestants always appear like that."
"How do you know that she is a Protestant?"
"Because I suppose that she is of the same religion as her son."
"But who told you that M. Spiegel is a Protestant?"