Chapter XVIII.
I was buried in my own gloomy reflections, and meditating over my recent interview with the Lieutenant-General of Police, when I heard the door of my room thrown open, and, looking up, found my father standing before me. Although I was not altogether unprepared to
see him—expecting his arrival, as I did, within a few days—I was so taken aback by his sudden appearance that I would gladly have had the ground open under my feet, and hide me in its depths. I ran to embrace him, conscious, as I did so, that my whole manner was betraying the confusion I felt. He took a seat, neither of us having as yet uttered a word.
Seeing that I remained standing, with my eyes cast down and my head uncovered, he said to me sternly:
