Dumont?" asked the clergyman,
sternly.
"I was alone. But allow me to ask, sir, by what right you question me. I
am not your pupil or your servant," replied Jaspar, rather warmly, his
natural testiness getting the better of his discretion.
"Pardon me, sir," replied the minister, in a tone of mock humility. "Do
not let my curiosity affront you."
"But it does affront me," said Jaspar, losing his temper at the
sarcastic manner of the other. "Now, allow me to inquire your business
with this girl."
"I came in the discharge of my duty as a Christian minister, to impart
the consolations of religion to this afflicted child of the church. Of
course, my business could not be with _you_ in that capacity."
"You seem to have departed very widely from your object," replied
Jaspar, with a sneer which he always bestowed upon religious topics.
"True, I have. This last blow upon poor Emily was so sudden and so
severe as to call forth a remark, and even a question of the validity of
the will."
"Indeed!" replied Jaspar, with a nervous start; "you have the will as
her father left it.
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