‘Leave it to me, Miss Blisset. Of course something must be done, and I will do it. For your sake I will do it gladly,’ he had said, taking her hands, looking into her troubled eyes with a glance that made them more troubled still, and going straight to her father’s room. The ‘something to be done’ naturally resolved itself into pecuniary assistance. The matter was perfectly simple. Notes for three hundred thalers settled it. Sebastian insisted upon becoming Mr. Blisset’s banker, and Mr. Blisset said that he could not refuse the possibility of being under obligations to a gentleman, who would understand the feelings of another gentleman, rather than to a coarse-minded tradesman, who could not by any possibility understand such fine sensibilities. The money was a loan. They both called it a loan; and Sebastian came out and told Adrienne that it was all right. She had burst into tears; then recovering, had said, ‘There is nothing that I would not do for you.’ To which he had replied, ‘Then come and have a row on the river.’ Upon which they had straightway had a very delightful row on the river, the Lahn; and delicacy alone had prevented Sebastian from then and there saying to Adrienne that he loved her, and asking her to be his wife. He deferred the question--he hoped, not for long--only until he had spoken to her father; and that he decided he would do the following day. In pursuance of this resolution, he had called during the forenoon at the musician’s lodgings, and had asked to see him. ‘_Ja!_’ the hostess told him, with a shrug of the shoulders, ‘the _Herrschaften_ had left by the first train that morning. Last night the gentleman had spoken very sternly to the Fräulein; she had heard him. The Fräulein had expostulated, and cried, and said, “How unthankful it will seem!” To which her _Herr Papa_ had replied that he could not endure such a burden; he must leave the place. After which he had desired his _Fräulein Tochter_ to pack up, and they were gone.’ ‘Where?’ asked Sebastian. ‘_Na!_ How should I know, _mein Herr_? Apparently to Frankfort, since the first train in the morning goes direct there; but from Frankfort, I have heard, one may go out anywhere over the whole world, even to Africa, if one chooses. What do I know?’ Sebastian had retired, quite convinced that it was not Adrienne but the morbid pride and vanity of her father, which had caused this _contretemps_. That pride could not endure to live in the presence of the man who had placed him under an obligation. He had gone to hide himself, and Sebastian tried in vain to find any further trace of Adrian Blisset and his daughter.