“‘Do not be downhearted,’ he said, ‘we are getting on. All shall happen as I prophesy. You shall have millions,’ and to cheer me up, he ordered for me, from Paris, every season, gowns and hats of all sorts, and many other knickknacks.
“‘Learn to wear them,’ said he, ‘learn your part, and rehearse the future.’
“I lived three years in this way. About this time Lerne’s great voyage to America took place. It lasted two months, for which time, your uncle had sent Macbeth back to his family, by way of a holiday.
“They came back on the same day.
“I think that the Professor and he had agreed to meet at Dieppe. Lerne was gloomy and angry. ‘You will have to wait a bit yet, Emma,’ he said.
“‘What is the matter?’ I said. ‘Isn’t it coming off?’
“‘They think that my inventions are not perfect enough; but there is nothing to be afraid of. I shall find what I want yet.’
“He resumed his researches in the laboratory.”
Once more, I interrupted Emma’s narrative.