se, sir. Provencal,
and of the purest blood. Auguste de la Lasterie married the daughter of
the Duke de Miriancourt, a cousin of my husband's, and there was another
of them who went as ambassador to Madrid.'

I knew none of them, and I suppose I looked as much.

'Your mother was, probably, of the elder branch, sir?' asked she.

I had to stammer out a most lamentable confession of my ignorance.

'Not know your own kinsfolk, sir--not your nearest of blood!' cried she,
in amazement. 'General, have you heard this strange avowal? or is it
possible that my ears have deceived me?'

'Please to remember, madam,' said I submissively, 'the circumstances in
which I passed my infancy. My father fell by the guillotine.'

'And his son wears the uniform of those who slew him!'

'Of a French soldier, madam, proud of the service he belongs to;
glorying to be one of the first army in Europe.'

'An army without a cause is a banditti, sir. Your soldiers, without
loyalty, are without a banner.'

'We have a country, madam.'

'I must protest against this discussion going further,' said the general
blandly, while in a lower tone he whispered something in her ear.

'Very true, very true,' said she; 'I had forgotten all that. Monsieur
de Tiernay, you will forgive me this warmth. An old woman, who has lost
nearly everything in the world, may have the privilege of bad temper
accorded her. We are friends now, I hope,' added she, extending her
hand, and, with a smile of most gracious meaning, beckoning to me to sit
beside her on the sofa.

Once away from the terrible theme of the Revolution, she conversed with
much agreeability; and her niece having reappeared, the conversation
became animated and pleasing. Need I say with what interest I now
regarded mademoiselle--the object of all my boyish devotion, the same
whose pale features I had watched for many an hour in the dim half-light
of the little chapel, her whose image was never absent from my thoughts
waking or sleeping, and now again appearing before me in all the grace
of coming womanhood!

Perhaps to obliterate any impression of her aunt's severity--perhaps it
was mere manner--but I thought there was a degree of anxiety to please
in her bearing towards me. She spoke, too, as though our acquaintance
was to be continued by frequent meetings, and dropped hints of
plans that implied constant intercourse. Even excursions into the
neighbourhood she spoke of; when, suddenly stopping, she