Then again came up the question of her position at supper, but there was no difficulty in the arrangement made between them.  The one gala evening of grand dresses—­the evening which had been intended to be a gala, but which had turned out to be almost funereal—­was over.  Even Michel Voss himself did not think it necessary that Marie should come in to supper with her silk dress two nights running; and he himself had found that that changing of his coat had impaired his comfort.  He could eat his dinner and his supper in his best clothes on Sunday, and not feel the inconvenience; but on other occasions those unaccustomed garments were as heavy to him as a suit of armour.  There was, therefore, nothing more said about clothes.  Marie was to dispense her soup as usual,—­expressing a confident assurance that if Peter were as yet to attempt this special branch of duty, the whole supper would collapse,—­and then she was to take her place at the table, next to her uncle.  Everybody in the house, everybody in Granpere, knew that the marriage had been arranged, and the old lady who had been so dreadfully snubbed by Marie, had forgiven the offence, acknowledging that Marie’s position on that evening had been one of difficulty.

But these arrangements had reference only to two days.  After two days, Adrian was to return to Basle, and to be seen no more at Granpere till he came to claim his bride.  In regard to the choice of the day, Michel declared roundly that no constraint should be put upon Marie.  She should have her full privileges, and no one should be allowed to interfere with her.  On this point Marie had brought herself to be almost indifferent.  A long engagement was a state of things which would have been quite incompatible with such a betrothal.  Any delay that could have been effected would have been a delay, not of months, but of days,—­or at most of a week or two.  She had made up her mind that she would not be afraid of her wedding.  She would teach herself to have no dread either of the man or of the thing.  He was not a bad man, and marriage in itself was honourable.  She formed ideas also of some future true friendship for her husband.  She would endeavour to have a true solicitude for his interests, and would take care, at any rate, that nothing was squandered that came into her hands.  Of what avail would it be to her that she should postpone for a few days the beginning of a friendship that was to last all her life?  Such postponement could only be induced by a dread of the man, and she was firmly determined that she would not dread him.  When they asked her, therefore, she smiled and said very little.  What did her aunt think?