"Is not the thing very sudden?"
Acton looked up. "Extremely sudden. There had been a tacit understanding; but within a day or two Clifford appears to have received some mysterious impulse to precipitate the affair."
"The impulse," said the Baroness, "was the charms of your very pretty sister."
"But my sister's charms were an old story; he had always known her."
Acton had begun to experiment again.
Here, however, it was evident the Baroness would not help him.
"Ah, one can't say! Clifford is very young; but he is a nice boy."
"He 's a likeable sort of boy, and he will be a rich man."
This was Acton's last experiment. Madame Munster turned away.
She made but a short visit and Felix took her home. In her little drawing-room she went almost straight to the mirror over the chimney-piece, and, with a candle uplifted, stood looking into it.
"I shall not wait for your marriage," she said to her brother.
"To-morrow my maid shall pack up."
"My dear sister," Felix exclaimed, "we are to be married immediately!
Mr. Brand is too uncomfortable."
But Eugenia, turning and still holding her candle aloft, only looked about the little sitting-room at her gimcracks and curtains and cushions.
"My maid shall pack up," she repeated. "Bonte divine, what rubbish!
I feel like a strolling actress; these are my 'properties.' "
"Is the play over, Eugenia?" asked Felix.
She gave him a sharp glance. "I have spoken my part."