ugh to force back a rebellious tear.

The cousins had been bred up together in the convent at Bellaise, and
had only been separated by Diane's having been brought to court two
years sooner than Eustacie. They had always been on very kindly,
affectionate terms; Diane treating her little cousin with the patronage
of an elder sister, and greatly contributing to shield her from
the temptations of the court. The elder cousin was so much the more
handsome, brilliant, and admired, that no notion of rivalry had crossed
her mind; and Eustacie's inheritance was regarded by her as reserved for
her brother, and the means of aggradizement an prosperity for herself
and her father. She looked upon the child as a sort of piece of property
of the family, to be guarded and watched over for her brother; and
when she had first discovered the error that the young baron was making
between the two daughters of the house, it was partly in kindness to
Eustacie, partly to carry out her father's plans, and partly from
her own pleasure in conversing with anything so candid and fresh as
Berenger, that she had maintained the delusion. Her father believed
himself to have placed Berenger so entirely in the background, that he
would hardly be at court long enough to discover the imposition; and
Diane was not devoid of a strong hope of winning his affection and
bending his will so as to induce him to become her husband, and become
a French courtier for her sake--a wild dream, but a better castle in the
air than she had ever yet indulged in.

This arrangement was, however, disconcerted by the King's passion for
Sidney's society, which brought young Ribaumont also to court; and at
the time of the mischievous introduction by Madame Marguerite, Diane had
perceived that the mistake would soon be found out, and that she should
no longer be able to amuse herself with the fresh-coloured, open-faced
boy who was unlike all her former acquaintance; but the magnetism that
shows a woman when she produces an effect had been experienced by her,
and she had been sure that a few efforts more would warm and mould the
wax in her fingers. That he should prefer a little brown thing, whose
beauty was so inferior to her own, had never crossed her mind; she
did not even know that he was invited to the pall-mall party, and was
greatly taken by surprise when her father sought an interview with her,
accused her of betraying their interests, and told her that this
foolish young f