Her first impulse was to throw herself at his feet and implore him to let her marry Nino.

The thought swept away for the time the remembrance of Benoni and of what she had to tell.

But a second sufficed to give her the mastery of her tongue and memory, which women seldom lose completely, even at the most desperate moments.
"I desired to tell you," she said, "that Baron Benoni took advantage of your absence to-day to insult me beyond my endurance." She looked boldly into her father's eyes as she spoke.
"Ah!" said he, with great coolness.

"Will you be good enough to light one of those candles on the table, and to close the window ?" Hedwig obeyed in silence, and once more planted herself before him, her slim figure looking ghostly between the fading light of the departing day and the yellow flame of the candle.
"You need not assume this theatrical air," said Lira, calmly.

"I presume you mean that Baron Benoni asked you to marry him ?" "Yes, that is one thing, and is an insult in itself," replied Hedwig, without changing her position.