She looked full in his face, her great soft eyes all suffused with tears—like violets laden with dew.
"I am gratified that you confide in me, so far," said Glynn quietly, with laudable self-control. "I shall observe your father by the light of your remarks; and if he is really in any difficulty, or cares to consult me, I shall be most happy to assist him so far as I can. Probably his depression arises from some temporary losses. Believe me," and his dark face lit up with a pleasant smile, "money is a most important factor in existence; I am able to assert from experience that there is no vacuum so distressing as an empty pocket."
"If it is the loss of money," she returned gravely, "we ought not to stay here; life is very costly, I know; I have paid everything for the last eight months. My dear father is too generous; we ought to manage as we used when he was trying to save; he might move about as his business required, and I could go back to good Mrs. Kellett."
"Who is Mrs. Kellett?"
"My foster-mother; the only mother I have ever known: she lost her baby and her husband, and took me to love instead, at the time our place was destroyed in Australia. But, Mr. Glynn, it is more than money that disturbs my father."
"Let us hope he will speak openly to me; but I have no right to ask his confidence. Now you must not worry yourself unnecessarily. I wish it were a finer day, and I should try to persuade you and Madame Weber to come for a drive in the bois."
"Thank you, very much; I should have liked it, for I have gone out very little of late; but Madame Weber is not in the house, she went to the Halle this morning early to buy fruit, and has not returned yet."
"Then you have been dull as well as troubled. How is Madame Davilliers, and Mademoiselle Antoinette?" asked Glynn, making a circuitous approach to the topic uppermost in his mind.
"They are very well, and very busy. Antoinette is going to be married in August to M. Le Vicomte de Pontigny; it has been all arranged since you left. I should have less to regret, therefore, in leaving Paris, for Antoinette is going to travel for some time, and when she returns it will not be the same."
"This seems to have been a rapid act?"