"Very generous on your part, but somewhat misjudged, as your unwelcome
presence has given me as great a shock as I could well sustain."

"Ah, aunt,--Madame de Gramont,--do not speak so harshly to me! I have
scarcely strength or courage left to tell you; I came to speak of--of
Count Tristan."

"My son seems to have chosen a somewhat singular messenger, and one who
he was well aware would be far from acceptable," returned the countess,
wholly unmoved.

"He did not send me; I came myself; He is not aware of my coming,
for--for"--

Madeleine's voice failed her, and the countess took up her words.

"_For_ you desired to make me fully sensible of the length to which you
carried your audacity. So be it! I am satisfied! Mademoiselle de
Gramont, for the second time I request you to retire."

"I cannot, until I have told you that Count Tristan is--is not, not
quite well; that is, he became indisposed at my house."

"In that case, it would have appeared to me more natural, and certainly
more proper, if he had returned to his old residence, and spared me the
pain of being apprised of his indisposition by an unwelcome messenger."

"He had no choice, or, rather, I had none. I feared to have the news
broken in a manner that might alarm you too much, and therefore I would
not even trust myself to write. Count Tristan was seized with,--I mean
was taken ill while conversing with me. He is not in a state to return
home at present, and I came to beg that his mother or his son will go to
him."

"I comprehend you, Mademoiselle de Gramont; you were always politic in
the highest degree. You know how to make the best of opportunities. You
find my son's temporary indisposition an admirable opportunity to lure
his relatives to your house, and to make known to the world your
connection with them. Your well-laid, dramatic little plot will fail.
Your good acting has not succeeded in alarming me, and I see no reason
why Count Tristan de Gramont, in spite of his sudden illness, should not
send for a carriage and return to the hotel. By your own confession, the
step you have taken is unwarranted; for you admitted that my son was not
aware of your intention."

"Because he was too ill to be aware of it, madame," replied Madeleine,
with an involuntary accent of reproach.

The cold and cruel conduct of the countess did not render her niece less
compassionate, less fearful of wounding; but it inspired her with the
resolution, which she had be