her, her _cowardice_--was
insuperable, and she held her aunt in too much awe to dare to take any
decided stand. M. de Bois called all his energies into play to influence
the weak medium he was compelled to employ.

Madeleine was occupied in a different part of the house when Maurice,
finding Gaston and Bertha in the boudoir, told them the result of his
interview with Madame de Gramont. By and by Gaston lured Bertha into the
garden. They made one or two turns in silence; Bertha looked up
wistfully into her lover's face, and said, in a tone of reproach,--

"How silent you seem to-day!"

"Yes, I feel grave,--I have something to accomplish, and I greatly need,
but fear to claim, your aid."

"Mine? What lion is there in a net that needs such a poor, wee mouse as
I to gnaw the meshes?"

"No lion already in the snare, but a lioness to be lured into our net.
Bertha, do you truly love Mademoiselle Madeleine?"

"What a question!"

"Do you love her so well that your love for her could surmount your
dread of your aunt?"

"Yes, that is, I think it could. What would you have me do?"

"Follow the noble example of Maurice; tell Madame de Gramont that you
will not return to Brittany with her unless Maurice and Mademoiselle
Madeleine return also. She detests this country, and the fear of being
compelled to remain here will conquer her."

"But how could I do this?" questioned Bertha, feeling that she had not
firmness for the task. "I have promised to go with her. What excuse
could I offer?"

"The excuse," answered her lover, "that you could not travel with her
alone."

"Alone?"

"Yes, for I do not count the light-headed Adolphine any one."

"But you,--you are going with us?"

"I shall not go unless Maurice and Mademoiselle Madeleine go," replied
M. de Bois.

"And you can let me go without you? You can let me take such a journey
with my aunt in her broken state of health?"

"I will not let you go at all if I can prevent your going."

Not a few persuasions were needed before M. de Bois could obtain
Bertha's promise to inform her aunt that she could not accompany her
except upon the conditions Maurice had made. Bertha looked like a
culprit awaiting sentence, rather than a person who came to dictate,
when she entered Madame de Gramont's apartment. The countess had been
highly incensed by her conversation with Maurice, and was wrought up to
such a pitch that she seemed to have gained sudden strength, and almost
to be r