He looked so frank and sincere and honorable under the elder’s scrutiny, though his face was flushed and the lines about his mouth were quivering. Denys took his arm. There was something better than a smile on the face, a tender approval. “No,” Denys replied in a tone that went to the young man’s heart. “I have had a little dream of the future. There is no one in St. Louis I would so soon take as a son. For look you, André, I do not want to give her up. The man who weds her must come here, must put up with me as I grow old and full of whims. I cannot be shut out of her happiness. I will tell you that I had a brief few months’ love with her mother, and a dream like this. Her father parted us. The child is as dear to me as if my blood ran in her veins, and her happiness is my whole study. If you can win her I shall be content. But women have to wait for a time to love. And it is not her time.” “But if I should go away—” The young fellow drew a long, sorrowing breath. “It might be best, so that you come back.” “I must stay all winter. And if some one else wins her?” he questioned anxiously. “That would be a grief to me. I shall try not to have it happen. Oh, you can trust me; only I shall not force her inclination. But there is some comfort to take with you in my full consent.” “You think, then, I had better go?” reluctantly. “It is not every day a friend like M. Chouteau is given to a young man. And,” with a vague smile, “you may even advance your suit by going. If she should miss you, so much the better. You have given her a great deal of devotion, perhaps too much. There are some gifts that are not appreciated if they come too easily.” André Valbonais felt as if his dream had been dashed to fragments like a bit of glass. He had resolved he would not go away; he _would_ marry Renée. Yet down in his heart he knew she did not love him with the fervor of a sweetheart. But that might come when she understood how much in earnest he was, and that her guardian really wished for the marriage. Yet, much as he wished for it, he would not spoil his darling’s life by any over-persuasion. “Yes, it is a fine chance. You will be the envy of the town. And—I trust you to come back as honorable as you go. A year soon passes.” “It will be hard to go without speaking.” “It will do no good.” Denys shook his head. “Trust me. I have seen more of womankind.” “Then I must be off. I asked to consult you, and I have your answer.” “Yes, yes! Go, by all means.” Renée was in her room, moving articles about in an aimless fashion, wondering how Barbe had looked and what she had said. She need not have worried. There were a dozen other neighbors, ready to talk of the narrow escape and compare their own town with the larger one.