Tanlay; that is to say, he _wills_ it.

I am leaving Paris for a few days. Though you may not see me,
you will hear of me.

I kiss you, ROLAND.

"Well, Charles," asked Amelie, when the young man had finished reading,
"what do you think of that?"

"That it is something we had to expect from day to day, my poor angel,
but it is none the less terrible."

"What is to be done?"

"There are three things we can do."

"Tell me."

"In the first place, resist if you have the strength; it is the shortest
and surest way."

Amelie dropped her head.

"You will never dare, will you?"

"Never."

"And yet you are my wife, Amelie; a priest has blessed our union."

"But they say that marriage before a priest is null before the law."

"Is it not enough for you, the wife of a proscribed man?" asked Morgan,
his voice trembling as he spoke.

Amelie flung herself into his arms.

"But my mother," said she; "our marriage did not have her presence and
blessing."

"Because there were too many risks to run, and we wished to run them
alone."

"But that man--Did you notice that my brother says he _wills_ it?"

"Oh, if you loved me, Amelie, that man would see that he may change the
face of the State, carry war from one end of the world to the other,
make laws, build a throne, but that he cannot force lips to say yes when
the heart says no."

"If I loved you!" said Amelie, in a tone of soft reproach. "It is
midnight, you are here in my room, I weep in your arms--I, the daughter
of General de Montrevel and the sister of Roland--and you say, 'If you
loved me.'"

"I was wrong, I was wrong, my darling Amelie. Yes, I know that you were
brought up in adoration of that man; you cannot understand that any one
should resist him, and whoever does resist him is a rebel in your eyes."

"Charles, you said there were three things that we could do. What is the
second?"

"Accept apparently the marriage they propose to you, and gain time, by
delaying under various pretexts. The man is not immortal."

"No; but is too young for us to count on his death. The third way, dear
friend?"

"Fly--but that is a last resource, Amelie; there are two objections:
first, your repugnance."

"I am yours, Charles; I will surmount my repugnance."

"And," added the young man, "my engagements."

"Your engagements?"

"My companions are bound to me, Amelie; but I, too, am bound to them. We
also have a man to whom we have sworn obedience. That ma