"Why did you betroth yourself to her?"
Harry briefly explained the affair to his father.
The Baron looked grave. "And what do you want me to do?" he asked, after a long, oppressive silence.
"Help me out, father. Put your veto upon this connection."
"What will my veto avail? You are of age, and can do as you choose," said the Baron, shaking his head.
"Yes, legally," Harry rejoined, impatiently, "but I never should dream of marrying against your will."
Karl Leskjewitsch found this assurance of filial submission on his son's part very amusing. He looked askance at the young fellow, and, suppressing a smile, extended his hand after a pompous theatric fashion and exclaimed, "I thank you for those words. They rejoice my paternal heart." Then, after swinging his son's hand up and down like a pump-handle, he dropped it and said, dryly, "Unfortunately, I have not the slightest objection to your betrothal to the Harfink girl. What pretext shall I make use of?"
"Well,"--Harry blushed,--"you might say you cannot consent to the mésalliance."
"Indeed! Thanks for the suggestion. I belong to the Liberal party, and do not feel called upon to play the part of an aristocratic Cerberus defending his prejudices." Here the Baron took out his note-book. "Aristocratic Cerberus," he murmured; "that may be useful some day in the Reichsrath. Besides," he continued, "it would just now be particularly unpleasant to quarrel with the Harfinks. If you had asked me before your betrothal whether I should like it, I should have frankly said no. The connection is a vulgar one; but, since matters have gone so far, I do not like to make a disturbance. The brother of the girl's mother, Doctor Grünbart, is one of the leaders of our party. He formerly conducted himself towards me with great reserve, suspecting that my liberal tendencies were due merely to a whim, to a fleeting caprice. I met him, however, a short time ago, on my tour through Sweden and Norway. He was travelling with his wife and daughter. We travelled together. He is a very clever man, but--between ourselves--intolerable, and with dirty nails. As for his women-folk,--good heavens!" The Baron clasped his hands. "The wife always eat the heads of the trout which I left in the dish, and the daughter travelled in a light-blue gown, with a green botany-box hanging at her back, and such teeth,--horrible! The wife is a schoolmaster's daughter, who married the old man to rid herself of a student lover. Very worthy, but intolerable. I travelled with them for six weeks, and won the Doctor's heart by my courtesy to his wife and daughter. I should have been more cautious if I had been at housekeeping in Vienna, although the most violent Austrian democrats are very reasonable in social respects, especially with regard to their women. They are flattered by attention to them on a journey, but they are not aggressive at home. This, however, is not to the point."
It did indeed seem not to the point to Harry, who bit his lip and privately clinched his fist. He was on the rack during his father's rambling discourse.