ut answering this question, Maurice went on.

"You have forced me to betray a secret which my cousin earnestly desired
to keep; but it is time that her family should refuse their countenance
to this farce of concealment. I, for one, will not be a party to it any
longer. I will never consent to calling her, or hearing her called, by
any but her true title, and I do not care how soon that is proclaimed to
the world."

"M. de Gramont," said Lord Linden, whose embarrassment was mingled with
undisguised joy, "I am overwhelmed with shame, and I beg that you will
forget what I have said. My apology is based upon the error under which
I was laboring. I make it very humbly, very gladly, and trust the
Viscount de Gramont will accept it generously. Without being able to
conceive the circumstances which have placed a noble lady in a position
which has caused me to fall into so grave a mistake, I shall only be too
proud, too thankful, to make the one reparation in my power,"--

Lord Linden had not finished speaking, but Maurice was disinclined to
hear any more or to prolong the interview, and said, frigidly, "I am
bound to accept your apology; but your lordship can hardly expect that I
can find it easy to forget that my cousin, Mademoiselle de Gramont, has
been regarded by you in an unworthy light. Good-evening."

Feigning not to see Lord Linden's outstretched hand, and disregarding
his attempt to exculpate himself further, Maurice walked out of the
reading-room, leaving the nobleman too much elated by the discovery of
Madeleine's rank to experience a natural indignation at her cousin's
cavalier treatment.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE SUITOR.

Lord Linden, when the Viscount de Gramont abruptly left him, returned to
his lodgings, and, in spite of the lateness of the hour, wrote to
Madeleine, implored her pardon for the presumption into which he had
been lured by his ignorance of her rank, and formally solicited her
hand. That night the happy nobleman's dreams, when he could sleep, and
his waking thoughts when he courted slumber in vain, had an auroral
tinge hitherto unknown. As soon as the sound of busy feet, traversing
the corridor, announced that the much-desired morning had at last
arrived, he rang his bell, gave his letter into the hands of a sleepy
domestic, and ordered it to be delivered immediately.

What was the next step which propriety demanded? To see Mademoiselle de
Gramont's relatives, to make known his suit to