o make, if necessary.

When Madeleine learned from Gaston the proposed departure of the
countess and her family, a death-like pallor suddenly overspread her
countenance, and she gasped out faintly, "All,--all going?"

"Dear, dear Madeleine," cried Bertha, "do not look so; you frighten me.
It's very sad to leave you in this strange land alone. It depends upon
you to keep two of us near you,--I mean M. de Bois and myself."

Bertha's words imparted no consolation.

"If you would but unravel this mystery, Madeleine?" Bertha went on. "It
depends upon you and you only, to bind me here. When you are ready to
stand before the altar with the one you have so long loved, so shall I
be! Yes, though it were to-morrow."

"Bertha," answered Madeleine with such sad solemnity that for the first
time Bertha's hope that her ardent desire might be accomplished was
chilled, "you do not know what an,--an almost impossibility you are
asking. Believe me, when I tell you, in all seriousness, that I shall
never stand before the altar as a bride. An insurmountable barrier
forbids! I shall live on,--work on, alone,--finding consolation in the
certainty that I am acting wisely, and bearing bravely what must be
endured. Will not this declaration convince you that you have decided
rashly, not to say _cruelly_, in making your wifehood dependent upon
mine?"

Bertha shook her head pertinaciously: "No--no--no! If I were to yield I
should have to relinquish my last hope of seeing you a bride. I do not
mean to yield! You need not persuade me; nor you either, M. de Bois. I
am as obstinate as the de Gramonts themselves; and yet, in this
instance, I think I am more reasonable in my firmness."

Madeleine and Gaston did not forego entreaties in spite of this
assertion; but they had no effect upon Bertha, though she was thankful
to be relieved from their importunities by the entrance of Maurice.
Neither Madeleine nor Gaston felt disposed, in his hearing, to run the
risk of making Bertha repeat her desire that Madeleine should become a
bride. Madeleine roused herself that Maurice might not perceive her
sadness, and made an effort to speak of the proposed voyage as a settled
plan. The gloom of Maurice was not diminished by her attempt. He would
have been less chagrined if he had seen the emotion which her pallid
cheeks betrayed when the intelligence of their approaching departure was
communicated to her. Ungenerous manhood! he would have suffered less had