high-bred air they declared to be irresistible, and
her acting everything that could be desired--adding that she was as
virtuous as she was beautiful, and that the boldest libertines respected
her immaculate purity. Deeply agitated by a secret presentiment, I
hastened back to Paris, and went to the theatre that very night. There I
saw you, my darling, and though it would seem to be impossible for even
a father's eye to recognise, in the beautiful young woman of twenty, the
babe that he had kissed in its cradle, and had never beheld since,
still I knew you instantly--the very moment you came in sight--and I
perceived, with a heart swelling with happiness and thankfulness, that
you were all that I could wish. Moreover, I recognised the face of an
old actor, who had been I knew in the troupe that Cornelia joined when
she fled from Paris, and I resolved to address myself first to him; so
as not to startle you by too abrupt a disclosure of my claims upon you.
But when I sent the next morning to the hotel in the Rue Dauphine, I
learned that Herode's troupe had just gone to give a representation at
a chateau in the environs of Paris, and would be absent three days. I
should have endeavoured to wait patiently for their return, had not
a brave fellow, who used to be in my service, and has my interest at
heart, come to inform me that the Duke of Vallombreuse, being madly in
love with a young actress named Isabelle, who resisted his suit with
the utmost firmness and determination, had arranged to gain forcible
possession of her in the course of the day's journey--the expedition
into the country being gotten up for that express purpose--that he had
a band of hired ruffians engaged to carry out his nefarious purpose and
bring his unhappy victim to this chateau--and that he had come to warn
me, fearing lest serious consequences should ensue to my son, as the
young actress would be accompanied by brave and faithful friends, who
were armed, and would defend her to the death. This terrible news threw
me into a frightful state of anxiety and excitement. Feeling sure, as
I did, that you were my own daughter, I shuddered at the thought of the
horrible crime that I might not be in time to prevent, and without one
moment's delay set out for this place--suffering such agony by the
way as I do not like even to think of. You were already delivered from
danger when I arrived, as you know, and without having suffered anything
beyond the alarm and