"I was so startled by this unexpected answer that, without thinking, I blurted out the question, 'Why?'
"'Because,' he said, 'she's in her coffin. She died at four o'clock this morning.'
"At the words he sank down on his doorstep, put the basket of roses on his knees and bowed himself over them in a passion of tears.
"The door opened, and the young girl, who had been with me in the train, ran down the steps. Sitting down beside her father she put her arms round his neck and said, 'Daddy, Daddy, don't cry!'"
The Professor ceased and there was a long pause.
"Did you discover," said the Pessimist at length, "why the two were weeping in the train?"
"No need to ask that," said our Hostess. "The woman had received sentence of death."
"Did you ever follow it up?" said the Historian. "What, for example, became of the young girl?"
"She was married to my eldest son last month," said the Professor.