Page:Later Life (1919).djvu/174

166 "Promise me, Marianne, that you will be careful."

"Yes, Henri. And you promise me also, Henri, that you will be careful."

"I promise you."

She went up to him, put her arms round his neck:

"My brother, my poor brother!"

"My dear little sister, my little sister!"

"Hush, hush! . . ."

"Hush! . . ."

"Here's Papa . . ."

Van Naghel came up the stairs.

And they went with him into the nursery, where Bertha was waiting with Emilie, Otto and Frances.

"Eduard has gone now," said Van Naghel, quietly. "I calmed him down; he is coming back to-morrow, to talk things over. You can stay here to-night, Emilie."

"Papa, I won't go back to him!"

"No, Emilie," cried Frances, excitedly, "you can't go back to him!"

"Be quiet, Frances," said Van Naghel, severely. And he repeated, "You . . . can . . . stay here, Emilie . . . to-night . . ."

He suddenly turned purple.

"Tell me what the law is, Papa," Emilie insisted.

"The law?" asked Van Naghel. "The law? . . ."