"Will you promise now?" he asked, almost unable to control his eagerness.
"No," she replied, with a dejected shake of the head. "If the secret does not concern me, it would be a foolish thing for me to resign a position that I so sorely need. Don't ask it, dad, for there is nothing that you can say that would induce me to do it!"
"Leonie——"
"You are keeping me up, dad, and I need rest. Won't you say good-night?"
The voice was quiet, but the expression on the lovely face belied it.
He saw what he had done, but was powerless to alter it.
"Oh, child——" he began, but she interrupted him again.
"To-morrow, dad! I am tired now and—— Go, dear, won't you? And, dad, don't worry your dear old head about me! If there is trouble to be borne, we can bear it together, as we always have, but we will leave it until it comes. You know how foolish it is to endeavor to cross a bridge before you come to it! Dad, dear old dad! good-night and God bless you. Whatever may come in the future, you have been the most faithful—- There you are making a baby of me."
She placed her arms about his neck, and hid her face upon his shoulder in a vain endeavor to conceal her tears. She kissed him again, then gently pushed him into his own room, and closed the door.
For hours after he had gone she sat there by the window trying to solve the mystery that surrounded her. Her brows were knit, her fingers tightly laced, her face pale as marble.