I'll soon bring it to the proof." He rose and went out in search of Mr.Travilla, found him alone, and at once asked his permission to pay his addresses to Elsie.
The request was courteously, but decidedly and firmly refused.
"May I ask why ?" queried the young man in anger and astonishment.
"Because, sir, it would not be agreeable to either my daughter herself, to her mother or to me." "Then I must say, sir, that you are all three hard to please.

But pray, sir, what is the objection ?" "Do you insist upon knowing ?" "I do, sir." "Then let me answer your query with another.

Would you pay your addresses to a young woman--however wealthy, beautiful or high-born--whose moral character was not better, whose life had been no purer than your own ?" "Of course not!" exclaimed Faude, coloring violently, "but who expects----" "I do, sir; I expect the husbands of my daughters to be as pure and stainless as my sons' wives." "I'm as good as the rest, sir.

You'll not find one young fellow in five hundred who has sowed fewer wild oats than I." "I fear that may be true enough, but it does not alter my decision," returned Mr.Travilla, intimating by a bow and a slight wave of the hand, that he considered the interview at an end.
Faude withdrew in anger, but with an intensified desire to secure the coveted prize; the more difficult of acquisition, the more desirable it seemed.
He persuaded his mother to become his advocate with Mrs.Travilla.
She at first flatly refused, but at length yielded to his entreaties, and undertook the difficult, and to her haughty spirit, humiliating mission.
Requesting a private interview with Elsie, she told her of the wishes of Clarence Augustus, and plead his cause with all the eloquence of which she was mistress.
"My boy would make your daughter a good husband," she said, "and indeed, I think any woman might feel highly honored by the offer of his hand.

I do not understand how it is, Mrs.Travilla, that a lady of your sense fails to see that." "I appreciate your feelings, my dear Mrs.Faude," said Elsie gently.