"
"And if that is so, are you unfamiliar with persons having to incur
danger? Why not an Englishman as well as another? This is an
extraordinary freak of yours, Natalie; I cannot understand it. And to
have come so far when any one in England--any one of us, I mean--could
have told you it was useless."
"But why useless, if you are inclined to interfere?" she said, boldly,
"and I think my father's family have some title to consideration."
"My old friend," said he, in a kindly way, "what is there in the world I
would not do for you if it were within my power? But this is not. What
you ask is, to put the matter shortly, impossible--impossible!"
In the brief silence that followed the mother heard a slight sigh: she
turned instantly, and saw her daughter, as white as death, about to
fall. She caught her in her arms with a slight cry of alarm.
"Here, Stefan, take my handkerchief--dip it in the water--quick!"
The huge, bullet-headed man strode across the lawn to the fountain. As
he returned, and saw before him the white-lipped, unconscious girl, who
was supported in her mother's arms, he said to himself, "Now I
understand.
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