Mother and daughter started. Someone was coming upstairs. Esperance
ran to the door and fell into the arms of that dearly-loved parent. He
kissed her tenderly. His eyes were damp.

"Come, come, dear, that I may tell you...."

"Your lunch is ready," announced Marguerite.

"Thank you," replied Esperance; "papa, mama, and I, we are all dying
of hunger."

Madame Darbois gently removed her daughter's hat.

"Please, dear papa, I want to tell you everything."

"Too late, dear child, I know everything!"

The two ladies seemed surprised. "But--? How?"

"Through my friend, Victor Perliez, the chemist; who is, like me, a
father who feels deeply about his child's choice of a career."

Esperance made a little move.

"No, little girl," went on Francois Darbois, "I do not want to cause
you the least regret. Every now and then my innermost thoughts may
escape me; but that will pass.... I know that you showed unusual
simplicity as '_Henriette_,' and emotion as '_Iphygenia_.' Perliez's
son, whom I used to know when he was no higher than that," he said,