d do you think, Sir,' replied I, 'that this will be any pleasanter to
me than to the rest of the party? And you yourself, will you not be one of
the principal dupes of your frolic?'

'Let me alone for that! Look you here; I've got a cold fowl and a bottle
of Bordeaux in my game-bag, and you shall have half.'

'I thank you,' said I, 'but I had rather find Ernest, and notify him of
your trick.'

'Ah! good heavens! my dear Sir,' said Ganguernet, 'you cannot take a
joke.'

I left him, and apprising our friends of the affair, inquired where I
could find Ernest. I was told that he had gone in the direction of the
chateau of his cousin, toward which I proceeded, intending to give Madame
de L---- notice of the trick of Ganguernet. At a turn of the road I
perceived Ernest at a distance, going toward the chateau. I increased my
speed in order to overtake him, and made so much haste that I arrived
almost at the same moment with him, so that he had just passed the gate as
I reached it. As I was about entering, the gate was violently pulled to,
and immediately I heard the report of a pistol, and then a voice cried
out: 'Villain! since I have missed you, defend yourself!'

I hastily sprang to a grating in the wall, about the height of my head,
which opened into the court-yard, and there witnessed a frightful
spectacle. The husband, sword in hand, was attacking Ernest with desperate
fury. 'Ah! you love her and she loves you!' cried he, in a voice hoarse
with passion; 'you love her, do you? and she loves you! Your turn first,
and then hers!'

The letter from Ernest to his cousin, conveyed by the malicious
interference of Ganguernet to her husband, had apprised him of a secret
which had remained hidden for more than four years; and before redressing
the wrongs of society as a magistrate, the president of the court had
hastened to avenge his own as a husband.

In vain I cried, in vain I called by name the two cousins. Monsieur de
L---- with blind fury drove Ernest from one corner of the court to
another. Suddenly a window opened, and Madame de L----, pale, with
dishevelled hair, and terror painted on her countenance, appeared.

'Leonie!' cried Ernest, 'withdraw!'

'No! let her remain!' exclaimed Monsieur de L----, 'she is a prisoner; you
need not fear that she will come to separate us.' And he again rushed upon
his cousin with such fury that the fire flew from their swords.

'It is I--it is _I_ who deserve death!' cried Madame