"I told you, Albert, that it was to be so. And--you do not mean to
threaten Mr. Wenck?"

"I mean to have him find a way out of this difficulty. He ought to
have said to your father that this lot business belongs to a period
gone by. He did hint at it. I supposed, of course, that he would see
the thing came out right, since he let it go on."

"Did you then believe it was only a play or a trick?" exclaimed Elise
indignantly.

"Not quite, but I did not suppose that we were a company who would
stand by an adverse decision. You know, if you are the Elise I have
loved so long, that I must love you always--that I am not going to
give you up. Your father was bent on the test, but look at him and
tell me if he expected this turn. He is twenty years older than he
was yesterday. Folks used to resort to the lot in deciding about
marriages, and it was all well enough if they didn't care how it
turned out, or hadn't faith to believe in their own ability to choose.
A pretty way of doing business, though! Suppose I had tried it on this
place! I have always asked for God's blessing, and tried to act so
that I need not blush when I asked it; but a man must know his own
mind, he must act with decision. I say again, I don't like your
teachers, Elise. Between Sister Benigna and Mr. Wenck, now, what would
be my chances if I could submit to such a pair?"

"You and I have no quarrel," said Elise gently. "I suppose that you
acted in good faith. You know how much I care--how humiliated I shall
feel if you attack in any way a man so good as Mr. Wenck. You do not