A curious question this! What could it possibly matter to the artist whether George was or was not well known in Paris or London? Yet here he was putting the question with a similar show of eagerness as when asking me to study the twelve facial sketches.
"I doubt," replied my uncle, "whether there are six people in Europe who know him—know him intimately, that is. As a young man he graduated at Upsala——"
"In Sweden, you know," I interjected, for the enlightenment of the artist, who seemed to resent this attempt of mine to teach him geography.
"And then," continued my uncle, "after a brief interval in England he sailed for India, where he has been ever since till the last two months."
"And it was during that brief interval in England, I suppose," said Angelo, "that he became engaged to Miss Leslie?"
"Just so."
"And Captain Willard did not return to England, you say, till the preparations for his marriage brought him over?"
"You have it. Daphne and I took a voyage to India last winter, and spent several weeks with George at Poonah; and a very happy time we had of it, too. None could ever have guessed that their engagement would come to such an ending as this."
"Ah!"
My uncle's replies seemed to have given great satisfaction to the artist.