The Price He Paid — page 313: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

304 REJOICING AT MAX’S HOME. me, that I would fain do so once before I depart hence, and my time here is growing short. May I give George any hope? Will you see him again?” “T will try,” she said, faintly. | The proceedings of the Brunnow family that afternoon were decidedly peculiar. In the first place, the doctor called his son into his study, anda strictly private conference took place between them. The subject discussed seemed to produce a most exhilarating effect on Max, for he caught his father in his arms and gave him a vigorous hug, such as he had once threatened to bestow on his papa-in-law, the councilor. Directly after this the young surgeon held a parley, likewise strictly private, with his wife in their own sitting-room, and from this interview the pair came back some- what fluttered and excited. Then Madame Agnes disappeared, and was lost to sight for some time, during which interval Max took possession of his friend, not stirring from his side an inch. Under other circumstances, George would have perceived that something unusual was going on; but the news he had heard that morning had greatly disturbed him, and he had some difficulty in preserving his usual outward composure. Unfortunately, Max showed no sympathy whatever with his friend’s interesting melancholy, though he was well aware of its cause. On the contrary, he tormented the un- happy lover with all sorts of questions and sugges- tions, and dragged him out at last under some crudely imagined pretext into the garden again. “But what should I go to the summer-house now for?” asked George, almost impatiently. “I was in there this morning, admiring the prospect.” “Well, there isan arrangement of my father’s you have got to admire now, an arrangement made simply and entirely in your honor. My father has shown himself practical for once ina way. Come along with me, you'll be surprised.” The summer-house, a small pavilion perched on the edge of the lake, certainly offered a glorious prospect. Eomichooks: co