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“I can hardly believe it yet,” responded Miss Baffin.

“It does seem like a dream. And yet we are certainly wide awake, and we are in the hall of a real castle, waiting for real people to come to us.”

“Sir Dinadan seems very real, too,” said Miss Baffin, timidly.

“Very! There can be no doubt about it.”

“And he behaves like a real young man, too,” continued Miss Baffin. “He proposed to me this morning.”

“What! Proposed to you! Incredible! Why, the boy has not known you more than an hour or two.”

“He is a man, pa; not a boy,” said Miss Baffin, a little hurt. “It was rather sudden; but, then, genuine affection sometimes manifests itself in that way.”

The Professor smiled; he perceived the exact situation of things. Then he looked very serious again. This was a contingency of which he had not taken account.

“Well, Tilly,” he said, “I hardly know what to say about the matter. It is so completely unexpected. You didn’t accept him?”

“No; not exactly, but—”

“Very well, then. We will leave the situation as it is for the present. When we have been here longer we can better determine what we should do.”