"I am to give you a wide berth then, always?"
"Always."
CHAPTER XIV.
PAUL GOES—AND RETURNS.
"Is Paul going to stay here all the time?" abruptly demanded Leonore one day.
"That's what I want to know." Her father's voice made answer from the depths of an easy-chair; and it was a disconcerting answer, for he had been unobserved, indeed unseen. Had his head appeared above the back of the chair, Leo would have left the library as suddenly as she had entered it. She had thought Sue was alone.
"Of course if he wishes to stay, he can," proceeded the general, laying down his paper; "but it's a monstrous long time—that's to say, hum—ha—there are still three weeks till the twenty-fifth, and he has been here three weeks already."
"I am sure he is the best of guests," said Sue, gently.
"Oh, the best of guests, no doubt. Bothers nobody. Still——"