lines, exclaimed, "Here is news indeed! We did not expect Maurice for a
fortnight; but he writes that he will be here to-morrow. How little time
we shall have for preparation! And I intended to order so many
improvements made in his chamber, and to quite remodel"--

"Oh, of course, everything will have to be remodelled for the Viscount
Maurice de Gramont! Nothing will be good enough for _him_! Every one
will sink into insignificance at _his_ coming! We, poor, forlorn
damsels, will henceforth be of no account,--no one will waste a thought
on _us_!" said Bertha.

"On the contrary," replied her aunt, "I never had your happiness more in
my thoughts than at this moment. Be sure you wear your blue brocade
to-morrow, and the blue net interwoven with pearls in your hair, and
that turquoise set which Maurice always admired."

"Be sure that I play the coquette, you mean, as my dear aunt did before
me," answered Bertha, merrily. "No, indeed, aunt, that may have done in
_your_ day, but it does not suit _ours_. We, of the present time, do not
wear nets for the express purpose of ensnaring the admiration of young
men; or don our most becoming dresses to lay up their hearts in their
folds. I am going to seek Madeleine to tell her this news, and I have
another surprise for her."

"What is it?" inquired the countess, in an altered tone.

"This great parcel of music, which I sent to Paris to obtain expressly
for her. But I have something else which she must not see to day,--this
bracelet, the exact pattern of the one my uncle presented to me upon my
last birthday, and Madeleine shall receive this upon her birthday; that
will be _to-morrow_."

As she spoke, she clasped upon her small wrist a band of gold, fastened
by a knot formed of pearls, and gayly held up her round, white arm
before the eyes of the count and countess.

The latter caught her uplifted hand and said gravely, "Bertha, music and
bracelets are very appropriate for _you_, but they do not suit
Madeleine. Madeleine is poor, worse than poor, wholly dependent upon"--

"There you are mistaken, aunt," returned Bertha, warmly. "As _I_ am
rich, she is not poor;--that is, she will not always be poor, and she
shall _not_ be dependent upon any one--not even upon _you_. I mean to
settle upon her a marriage portion if she choose to marry, and a
handsome income if she remain single."

"Very generous and _romantic_ on your part," replied the countess,
ironically; "but, unfortuna