'Wasn't she divine?' sighed Floyd, slowly withdrawing himself from the window and returning to his chair. He took a deep draught from his beer-schoppen, selected another huge cigar from the cigar-case, lit it, and sighed once more. 'You don't know her--do you?' he next inquired, turning a lazy glance upon me. 'What do you mean? I know nobody here.' 'I was only thinking,' rejoined Floyd, without observing my confusion, 'how nice it would have been if you could have introduced us. Though, to be sure, no one could know a girl like that without falling in love with her himself; so maybe it's better for me as it is--eh? ha, ha, ha!' 'Ha, ha! I see--you dread a possible rival in me--ha, ha!' 'Dread isn't exactly the word, Tom, old fellow,' said Floyd, in a changed tone, perhaps fancying (for his perceptions were as acute as his heart was generous) that his jesting allusion had hurt my feelings. 'If you were in love with this girl, I would give up my chance to you in a moment--and do all a man could to promote your success too. You know what I think of you, Tom; but, hang it! we're Anglo-Saxons; we can't be always bursting into tears and swearing that we love one another! But I know what you've done for me; and I mean to do something for you, when my time comes.' 'All right, Floyd,' said I hastily. 'Only don't talk as if you owed me anything,' I added presently; 'because you don't.' 'Oh, I don't mean to go to work strictly on the debit and credit principle,' he answered with a smile. 'But--since we've got to talking in this vein somehow, we may as well have it out and done with it. I found out, quite by accident, the little _ruse_ you played off on me six years ago. I stumbled upon the revelation only three months back. And that led to my discovering your poverty. Altogether, Tom, it took the wind out of me for a moment.' 'Remember one thing,' I interposed; 'it wasn't until after I had done that, that the robbery came to light. I expected to be richer than you----' 'I know--I understand. But now, use your imagination for a moment, and put yourself in my place. If I had enriched you beyond the dreams of avarice, and then turned out a pauper myself, you would not feel exactly comfortable, I take it. And if, in the course of six years, you had proved yourself a good steward of the property, and had increased its value by upwards of one-half, wouldn't you consider it no more than a fair and even thing, conducive to the comfort and respect of both parties, to make that increase over to me, with your best bow, and so live happily ever after? Eh, Tom?'