dently gaining ground.

For the last two days the poet had endeavored to fascinate Modeste only,
and he took advantage of every moment when he found himself alone with
her, to weave the web of passionate language around his love. Modeste's
blush, as she listened to him on the occasion we have just mentioned,
showed the demoiselles d'Herouville the pleasure with which she was
listening to sweet conceits that were sweetly said; and they, horribly
uneasy at the sight, had immediate recourse to the "ultima ratio" of
women in such cases, namely, those calumnies which seldom miss their
object. Accordingly, when the party met at the dinner-table the poet
saw a cloud on the brow of his idol; he knew that Mademoiselle
d'Herouville's malignity allowed him to lose no time, and he resolved
to offer himself as a husband at the first moment when he could find
himself alone with Modeste.

Overhearing a few acid though polite remarks exchanged between the poet
and the two noble ladies, Gobenheim nudged Butscha with his elbow,
and said in an undertone, motioning towards the poet and the grand
equerry,--

"They'll demolish one another!"

"Canalis has genius enough to demolish himself all alone," answered the
dwarf.

CHAPTER XXII. A RIDDLE GUESSED

During the dinner, which was magnificent and admirably well served, the
duke obtained a signal advantage over Canalis. Modeste, who had received
her habit and other equestrian equipments the night before, spoke of
taking rides about the country. A turn of the conversation led her to
express the wish to see a hunt with hounds, a pleasure she had never yet
enjoyed. The duke at once proposed to arrange a hunt in one of the crown
forests, which lay a few leagues from Havre. Thanks to his intimacy
with the Prince de Cadignan, Master of the Hunt, he saw his chance of
displaying an almost regal pomp before Modeste's eyes, and alluring her
with a glimpse of court fascinations, to which she could be introduced
by marriage. Glances were exchanged between the duke and the two
demoiselles d'Herouville, which plainly said, "The heiress is ours!"
and the poet, who detected them, and who had nothing but his personal
splendors to depend on, determined all the more firmly to obtain some
pledge of affection at once. Modeste, on the other hand, half-frightened
at being thus pushed beyond her intentions by the d'Herouvilles, walked
rather markedly apart with Melchior, when the company adjourned to the