a
member of our family. I have ever entertained for Mademoiselle de
Gramont the strongest affection, in spite of her lamentable
eccentricities. But these I would prefer to forget."

"Yes, that's it! That's the trump card now!--forget,--forget all about
it!" cried Count Tristan, hilariously. He had recovered his power of
utterance, yet spoke like a man partially intoxicated. "Let the past be
forgotten, bury it deep; never dig it up! There are circumstances which
had better not be mentioned. I myself have been mixed up with the
affair; of course, I was an innocent party; I beg you to believe so.
It's all right--quite right--quite right!"

Though it was so evident that Count Tristan's mind was wandering,--at
all events, that there was no connection in his ideas,--his mother could
not stoop to admit any such possibility, and said sternly,--

"My son, your language strikes me as singular. Lord Linden, of course,
comprehends that he has our consent to his union with Mademoiselle de
Gramont; but we also wish him to understand we expect him to remove his
wife to his own country, or some other land where her history will not
be known. Upon this condition we will pardon our relative's vagaries,
and give our sanction to her nuptials."

Lord Linden was not a man who could, with any complacency, consent to
have conditions enforced upon him by the family of the lady whom he
selected as his wife; his pride was quite as great as theirs; but before
he had obtained Madeleine's consent to his suit, it was politic to
preserve the favor of those who could influence her decision.

Turning to Count Tristan, he observed, "I sent a letter to Mademoiselle
de Gramont this morning, and I hope to be honored by an answer during
the day. Would it be asking too much if I begged that you would see the
lady, and inform her of the flattering reception which Madame de Gramont
and yourself have given my proposals?"

"I will go at once," replied Count Tristan. "An open visit, of course;
no need of concealment now! Where's my hat? What has become of it? It's
got a trick lately of getting out of the way."

Count Tristan, though his hat stood on the table before him, tottered
across the room, looking about in a weak, flurried way. His mother was
not willing to attribute his singularly helpless, troubled, and childish
demeanor, to the perturbed state of his brain, and said severely, though
addressing her words to Lord Linden,--

"Count Tristan's grati