him; just show him the sword and shake your head. He will
understand."

   The old gentleman's expression, when subsequently Faust presented him
to Marguerite, would have been interesting:

   "Allow me, my wife. My dear, a—a friend of mine. You may remember
meeting him that night at your aunt's."

   As I have said, there would have been ructions; but I do not myself
see what could have been done. There was nothing in the bond to the
effect that Faust should not marry, so far as we are told. The Old
Man had a sense of humour. My own opinion is that, after getting
over the first annoyance, he himself would have seen the joke. I can
even picture him looking in now and again on Mr. and Mrs. Faust. The
children would be hurried off to bed. There would be, for a while,
an atmosphere of constraint.

   But the Old Man had a way with him. He would have told one or two
stories at which Marguerite would have blushed, at which Faust would
have grinned. I can see the old fellow occasionally joining the
homely social board. The children, awed at first, would have sat
silent, with staring eyes. But, as I have said, the Old Man had a
way with him. Why should he not have reformed? The good woman's
unconsciously exerted influence—the sweet childish prattle! One
hears of such things. Might he not have come to be known as
"Nunkie"?

   Myself—I believe I have already mentioned it—I would not have
married Marguerite. She is not my ideal of a good girl. I never
liked the way she deceived her mother. And that aunt of hers! Well,
a nice girl would not have been friends with such a woman. She did
not behave at all too well to Sybil, either. It is clear to me that
she led the boy on. And what was she doing with that box of jewels,
anyhow? She was not a fool. She could not have gone every day to
that fountain, chatted with those girl friends of hers, and learnt
nothing. She must have known that people don't go leaving twenty
thousand pounds' worth of jewels about on doorsteps as part of a
round game. Her own instinct, if she had been a good girl, would
have told her to leave the thing alone.

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