you know that the marriage will not take place."
"Ah!" cried Petrovitch, rubbing his hands. "That is good. That is excellent. You are—what do they say—the heavy father, eh? The Countess, you will say, is not of age. She does not know her mind." He laughed mirthlessly. "Well, I will risk all that, venerable sir!"
"You'll be risking more than that," said Noel evenly. "By the way, may I sit down? I think if we both sit down—thank you. As I said before, I simply came in to tell you that the marriage will not take place. I expect you to give me your word of honor before I leave this room that you will not attempt to see Countess Chiozzi again on any pretext whatsoever."
"My good young man," said Petrovitch, too much amused to be angry, "I will see your aunt, Countess Chiozzi, where and when I please, and I will marry her by special license the day after to-morrow. What have you to say to that?"
"Only that it will have to be a very special license."
"I do not know what you mean by that. But one thing I do know very well, and that is that even if I did not wish to marry your aunt before, I would do so now simply because you do not
