"_Eh bien!_ Then send the little obstinate damsel to Grunwald, to the model institute of Miss Bear. The little Breesen has been brought up there, and she told me the other day it was rather a kind of penitentiary than a boarding-school; but the harder it is the more effective--I mean the threat. For I will be hanged if _ma chère cousine_ lets matters go to such an extremity--pardon me, dear aunt, I know you do not like such strong expressions." "It is certainly a very bad habit of yours," said the baroness, rising. Felix followed her example. "Which I shall try to lay aside to please you," he added, offering his arm to the baroness. "One thing more," said the latter, pausing a moment, "do you believe Grenwitz will consent?" "If I believe it?" cried Felix, laughing in a manner which was by no means flattering for the poor old gentleman, "if I believe it? _Ma foi, chère tante_, has not my most worthy uncle been nearly twenty years under your orders? How long is it since I have the honor of serving under you? A few weeks, and I think I have learnt to obey pretty well already!" "You are a flatterer," said the baroness, graciously, "but nobody can be angry with you." And the worthy pair went off arm in arm. When the voices could no longer be heard, the boy's face became visible once more in the open window. It was even paler than before. The boy threatened the two with a gesture of his arms, and his lips moved as if they were murmuring a grim malediction. Then, when the two had disappeared out of sight, he let himself down upon the bench where they had been sitting. By the bench on the thick moss lay a badly folded letter, which the baroness had dropped from her pocket. The boy picked it up, and when he saw that it was in Helen's handwriting he pressed it to his lips with passionate tenderness. Then he concealed it carefully in his breastpocket, looked once more cautiously around, and the next moment he had disappeared in the bushes. CHAPTER XIII.