ntinued; "and if Monsieur
had been rather more patient, and Mademoiselle St. Pierre less
interfering--perhaps I should say, too, if _I_ had been calmer and
wiser--I should have given it then."

He looked at the box: I saw its clear warm tint and bright azure
circlet, pleased his eyes. I told him to open it.

"My initials!" said he, indicating the letters in the lid. "Who told
you I was called Carl David?"

"A little bird, Monsieur."

"Does it fly from me to you? Then one can tie a message under its wing
when needful.",

He took out the chain--a trifle indeed as to value, but glossy with
silk and sparkling with beads. He liked that too--admired it artlessly,
like a child.

"For me?"

"Yes, for you."

"This is the thing you were working at last night?"

"The same."

"You finished it this morning?"

"I did."

"You commenced it with the intention that it should be mine?"

"Undoubtedly."

"And offered on my fete-day?"

"Yes."

"This purpose continued as you wove it?"

Again I assented.

"Then it is not necessary that I should cut out any portion--saying,
this part is not mine: it was plaited under the idea and for the
adornment of another?"

"By no means. It is neither necessary, nor would it be just."

"This object is _all_ mine?"

"That object is yours entirely."

Straightway Monsieur opened his paletot, arranged the guard splendidly
across his chest, displaying as much and suppressing as little as he
could: for he had no notion of concealing what he admired and thought
decorative. As to the box, he pronounced it a superb bonbonniere--he
was fond of bonbons, by the way--and as he always liked to share with
others what pleased himself, he would give his "dragees" as freely as
he lent his books. Amongst the kind brownie's gifts left in my desk, I
forgot to enumerate many a paper of chocolate comfits. His tastes in
these matters were southern, and what we think infantine. His simple
lunch consisted frequently of a "brioche," which, as often as not, to
shared with some child of the third division.

"A present c'est un fait accompli," said he, re-adjusting his paletot;
and we had no more words on the subject. After looking over the two
volumes he had brought, and cutting away some pages with his penknife
(he generally pruned before lending his books, especially if they were
novels, and sometimes I was a little provoked at the severity of his
censorship, the retrenchments interrupting the narrat