Alison had seated himself opposite the ladies. They spoke of his travels, of England and France, of the Rhine; but Henry's conversational powers were not brilliant. He waited from minute to minute, and with ever increasing impatience, for Atkins to give him an opportunity to be alone with Jane, but Atkins appeared to feel a lively satisfaction in his repressed vexation, and opened out the conversation to seemingly endless limits. The young American was not the man to be trifled with in this way; as no one came to his aid, he himself seized the helm, and simply requested Miss Forest to allow him to give over to her the letters and tidings from home which were designed for her alone. Jane arose, and with a hasty apology to her aunt, conducted the young gentleman into the sitting-room adjoining the reception-parlor, leaving Mr. Atkins to console the old lady for this new American freedom. Scarce had the door closed behind them, when Alison stepped up to her, and with a powerfully repressed, but still impassioned gesture, took her hand in his. "Pardon me Jane, for resorting to this awkward device! I could bear the suspense no longer." He held closely the beautiful, cold hand which as before lay unresisting in his, but did not return its pressure. "You should have chosen some less transparent device, Henry! Mr. Atkins would, sooner or later, have found an excuse for leaving us alone. It would of necessity have occurred to my aunt that we would prefer to speak of home matters by ourselves." This cool reply somewhat restrained Alison's ardor. "You seem very much to fear lest Doctor Stephen may gain some knowledge of our mutual relations." "I certainly hope that he will not." "And still it cannot be avoided." "I believe that remains alone with us, and so much the more so as your stay in B. is to be limited to a few days." "Certainly! It does not appear that I have especial reasons for lengthening my visit." Jane felt the thrust, and thought best to waive a subject that threatened to be dangerous. "You will go to Paris? They are speaking of a possible war with France." Alison shrugged his shoulders. "I do not believe in such a possibility, but should it come to that, I should naturally return to be at your side and conduct you home, if the French army overflowed the Rhine country and Germany." "Do you really think that would happen?" "Yes! Have you any other idea?" Jane threw back her head with a defiant gesture. "And yet, I think we should know how to defend our Rhine!" "_We_? _Our_ Rhine?" repeated Alison sharply. "I thought, Miss Forest, that hitherto it had been your pride and your glory to call yourself a daughter of that country to which you belong in all things--save the first brief days of your infancy."