of
loosening his tongue, and doubtless imagined that the emphatic
utterances were inaudible.

Bertha went on. "It was a terrible blow to Maurice! He felt so sure
until then that Madeleine loved him; so did I. But we were both
mistaken. It is plain enough now that she does _not_."

"What makes it plain? How can you be sure?" asked M. de Bois, becoming
more and more disturbed.

"Her own declaration has placed the fact beyond doubt. She even
confessed that she loved another."

Her listener did not attempt to conceal his consternation at these
words.

"Mademoiselle Madeleine said she loved another! She, who would not stoop
to breathe a word which was not the strictest truth,--_she told you so?_
You heard it yourself? You are _certain, very certain_, Mademoiselle
Bertha?"

"I dare say that I ought not to have repeated this to you," replied
Bertha, who now experienced some self-reproach at betraying her friend's
secret to one whom it, perhaps, so deeply concerned; "but I am very
certain that Madeleine distinctly rejected Maurice, and, when he
attributed her refusal to his grandmother's and his father's disapproval
of his suit, she denied that she was influenced by them, and confessed
that her heart was not free,--that she had bestowed it upon another."

"By all that is heroic, she is a noble woman!" exclaimed M. de Bois,
fervently. "She has the grandest nature! She is incom-com-com"--

"Incomparable," said Bertha, finishing his sentence, and checking a
sigh. "Yes, I never knew any one like her. She has no equal."

"I don't exactly say _that_. I don't mean _that_. She is not
su-su-superior--to"--

Bertha did not assist him by completing _this_ disjointed phrase, even
if she suspected what he desired to say.

At that moment Count Damoreau approached, accompanied by a gaunt,
overdressed lady, with harsh and forbidding features.

"Lady Vivian is looking for Mademoiselle de Gramont. Did she not
accompany you?" inquired the count.

"She intended to do so, but changed her mind."

"She received a letter from me to-day,--did she not?" continued Count
Damoreau.

"Yes, I remember delivering one to her myself, which Baptiste said was
brought by your valet."

"Did she not apprise you of its contents?"

"No. I was not present when she opened the letter."

"Then you do not know how she received my proposition?" remarked Lady
Vivian, in a grating voice. "I begin to be a little doubtful myself how
it will do. Is your