. She watched his play, gave him the advice he wanted, and
found occasion to say flattering things by ranking the merits of noble
birth with those of genius and beauty. Canalis thought he knew the
reason of this change; he had tried to pique Modeste by calling marriage
a catastrophe, and showing that he was aloof from it; but like others
who play with fire, he had burned his fingers. Modeste's pride and her
present disdain frightened him, and he endeavored to recover his ground,
exhibiting a jealousy which was all the more visible because it was
artificial. Modeste, implacable as an angel, tasted the sweets of power,
and, naturally enough, abused it. The Duc d'Herouville had never known
such a happy evening; a woman smiled on him! At eleven o'clock, an
unheard-of hour at the Chalet, the three suitors took their leave,--the
duke thinking Modeste charming, Canalis believing her excessively
coquettish, and La Briere heart-broken by her cruelty.

For eight days the heiress continued to be to her three lovers very
much what she had been during that evening; so that the poet appeared
to carry the day against his rivals, in spite of certain freaks and
caprices which from time to time gave the Duc d'Herouville a little
hope. The disrespect she showed to her father, and the great liberties
she took with him; her impatience with her blind mother, to whom she
seemed to grudge the little services which had once been the delight
of her filial piety,--seemed the result of a capricious nature and a
heedless gaiety indulged from childhood. When Modeste went too far, she
turned round and openly took herself to task, ascribing her impertinence
and levity to a spirit of independence. She acknowledged to the duke
and Canalis her distaste for obedience, and professed to regard it as an
obstacle to her marriage; thus investigating the nature of her suitors,
after the manner of those who dig into the earth in search of metals,
coal, tufa, or water.

"I shall never," she said, the evening before the day on which the
family were to move into the villa, "find a husband who will put up with
my caprices as my father does; his kindness never flags. I am sure no
one will ever be as indulgent to me as my precious mother."

"They know that you love them, mademoiselle," said La Briere.

"You may be very sure, mademoiselle, that your husband will know the
full value of his treasure," added the duke.

"You have spirit and resolution enough to discipl