You--do not hurt the girl's feelings again.

Say--say you bless this union; it will make me happier at the last .-- Paula and Orion; both of them-both .-- I never dared before--but what better could we wish ?" The matron clasped her hands and sobbed out: "Anything, everything you wish! But Father, Orion, our faith!--And then, merciful Saviour, that poor little Katharina!" "Katharina!" repeated the sick man, and his feeble lips parted in a compassionate smile.

"Our boy and the water--water--you know what I would say." Then his eyes began to sparkle more brightly and he said in a low voice, but still eagerly, as though death were yet far from him: "My name is George, the son of the Mukaukas; I am the great Mukaukas and our family--all fine men of a proud race; all: My father, my uncle, our lost sons, and Orion here--all palms and oaks! And shall a dwarf, a mere blade of rice be grafted on to the grand old stalwart stock?
What would come of that ?--Oh, ho! a miserable little brood! But Paula! The cedar of Lebanon--Paula; she would give new life to the grand old race." "But our faith, our faith," moaned Neforis.

"And you, Orion, do you even know what her feeling is towards you ?" "Yes and no.

Let that rest for the present," said the youth, who was deeply moved.