Have I no right to
show her affection? Must I renounce the ties of blood?"

"It is not you, Maurice, whom I blame," said the countess, trying to
speak less sternly. "It is Madeleine, who should not have permitted this
unmeet familiarity. I well know by what arts she has lured you to forget
yourself. The fault lies with her."

For the first time the countess beheld a flash of indignation in the
eyes Madeleine lifted from the ground.

"Madame--aunt!" she began.

The countess would not permit her to proceed.

"I know what I say! You have too much tact and quickness not to have
comprehended our hopes in regard to Maurice and Bertha; and it has not
escaped my notice that you have sought, by every artful manoeuvre in
your power, to frustrate those hopes."

"I?" ejaculated Madeleine, aghast at the charge, and too much bewildered
to be able to utter a denial.

"Yes, _you!_ Have you not sought to fascinate Maurice by every species
of wily coquetry? Have you not"--

"Grandmother!" cried Maurice, furiously.

"Be silent, Maurice,--it is Madeleine to whom I am addressing my
remarks, and her own conscience tells her their justice."

"Aunt, if ever by word, or look, or thought"--

"Oh! it was all done in the most apparently artless, natural,
_purposeless_ manner! But the same end was always kept steadily in view.
What I have witnessed this morning convinces me of your aims. Your
movements were so skilfully managed that they scarcely seemed open to
suspicion. The most specious coquetry has governed all your actions. You
were always attired more simply than any one else; but by this very
simplicity you thought to render yourself remarkable, and attract a
larger share of attention. You always pretended to shun observation,
that you might be brought into more positive notice. You affected to
avoid Maurice, that he might feel tempted to follow you,--that he might
be lured to seek you when you were alone, as you were a moment
ago,--that he might"--

Maurice could restrain his ire no longer. He broke forth with
vehemence,--"Grandmother, I cannot listen to this injustice. I cannot
see Madeleine so cruelly insulted. Were it my mother herself who spoke,
I would not stand by and see her trample thus upon an innocent and
defenceless heart."

Madeleine turned to Maurice beseechingly. "Do not utter such words to
one whom you are bound to address with reverence;--do not, or you will
render my sufferings unendurable!"

"Your _suffe