To a superficial observer there was a great likeness between the two brothers, although Mark was the taller and more robust of the two. Most close observers would, however, assert that Laurence was the better-looking; Mark had not the same unruly fair hair, nor look of boyish enthusiasm; his face was more dour and furrowed, despite the merry twinkle which now and then lit up his grey eyes, and there were lines around his brow and mouth which in an older man would have suggested the cares and anxieties of an arduous life, but which to the mother’s searching gaze at this moment only seemed to indicate traces of dissipation, of nights spent in taverns, and days frittered away in the pursuit of pleasure. Clémence van Rycke sighed as she read these signs and a bitter word of reproach hovered on her lips; but this she checked and merely sighed--sighing and weeping were so habitual to her, poor soul! "Have you seen your father?" she asked after a while. "Not yet," he replied. "You will have to tell him, Mark. I couldn’t. I haven’t the courage. He has always loved you better than Laurence or me--the blow would come best from you." "Have you told him nothing, then?" "Nothing." "Good God!" he exclaimed, "and he has to meet señor de Vargas within the next two hours!" "Oh! I hadn’t the courage to tell him, Mark!" she moaned piteously, "I was always hoping that Laurence would think better of it all. I so dread even to think what he will say ... what he will do...." "Laurence should have thought of that," rejoined Mark dryly, "before he embarked on this mad escapade." "Escapade!" she exclaimed with sudden vehemence. "You can talk of escapade, when..." "Easy, easy, mother dear," broke in Mark good-humouredly, "I know I deserve all your reproaches for taking this adventure so lightly. But you must confess, dear, that there is a comic side to the tragedy--there always is. Laurence, the happy bridegroom-elect, takes to his heels without even a glimpse at the bride offered to him, whilst her beauty, according to rumour, sets every masculine heart ablaze." The mother gave a little sigh of weariness and resignation.