at astonishment, had not yet
uttered a word.

"What, my dear Mdlle. Adrienne?" said M. Baleinier, truly surprised at
her emotion; "what! you, that were just now so courageous, weeping?"

"Yes," answered Adrienne, in an agitated voice; "I weep in presence of a
friend; but, before my aunt--oh! never."

"And yet, in that long interview, your stinging replies--"

"Ah me! do you think that I resigned myself with pleasure to that war
of sarcasm? Nothing is more painful to me than such combats of bitter
irony, to which I am forced by the necessity of defending myself
from this woman and her friends. You speak of my courage: it does not
consist, I assure you, in the display of wicked feelings--but in the
power to repress and hide all that I suffer, when I hear myself
treated so grossly--in the presence, too, of people that I hate and
despise--when, after all, I have never done them any harm, and have only
asked to be allowed to live alone, freely and quietly, and see those
about me happy."

"That's where it is: they envy your happiness, and that which you bestow
upon others."

"And it is my aunt," cried Adrienne, with indignation, "my aunt, whose
whole life has been one long scandal that accuses me in this revolting
manner!--as if she did not know me proud and honest enough never to
make a choice of which I should be ashamed! Oh! if I ever love, I shall
proclaim it, I shall be proud of it: for love, as I understand it, is
the most glorious feeling in the world. But, alas!" continued Adrienne,
with redoubled bitterness, "of what use are truth and honor, if they do
not secure you from suspicions, which are as absurd as they are odious?"
So saying, she again pressed her handkerchief to her eyes.

"Come, my dear Mdlle. Adrienne," said M. Baleinier, in a voice full
of the softest unction, "becalm--it is all over now. You have in me a
devoted friend." As he pronounced these last words, he blushed in spite
of his diabolical craft.

"I know you are my friend," said Adrienne: "I shall never forget that,
by taking my part to-day, you exposed yourself to the resentment of my
aunt--for I am not ignorant of her power, which is very great, alas! for
evil."

"As for that," said the doctor, affecting a profound indifference, "we
medical men are pretty safe from personal enmities."

"Nay, my dear M. Baleinier! Mme. de Saint-Dizier and her friends
never forgive," said the young girl, with a shudder. "It needed all my
invincible aver