"
He regarded her coldly. "And you want to be on hand to see him
squirm, I suppose."
She took instant alarm. Was she going too far? His query was somewhat
disconcerting.
"To be perfectly frank with you, Mr. Schmidt, I am going to Graustark
because no one will ever think of looking for me in such an out-of-
the-way place. I am serious now, so you must not laugh at me.
Circumstances are such that I prefer to seek happiness after a
fashion of my own. My parents love me, but they will not understand
me. They wish me to marry a man they have picked out for me. I intend
to pick out my own man, Mr. Schmidt. You may suspect, from all that
you have seen, that I am running away from home, from those who are
dearest in all the world to me. You knew that I was carefully watched
in Paris. You know that my father fears that I may marry a man
distasteful to him, and I suppose to my mother, although she is not
so--"
"Are his fears well-founded?" he asked, rudely interrupting her. "Is
there a man that he has cause to fear? Are--are you in love with some
one, Bedelia?"
"Do not interrupt me.
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