Lorraine princes;
nor could he judge of the further effect of his open-faced frank
simplicity and sweetness of expression--contemptible, perhaps, to the
astute, but most winning to the world-weary. He shook his head at the
fair reflection, smiled as he saw the colour rising at his own sensation
of being a fool, and then threw it aside, vexed with himself for being
unable not to feel attracted by the first woman who had shown herself
struck by his personal graces, and yet aware that this was the very
thing he had been warned against, and determined to make all the
resistance in his power to a creature whose very beauty and enchantment
gave him a sense of discomfort.

CHAPTER V. THE CONVENT BIRD

Young knight, whatever that dost armes professe,
And through long labours huntest after fame,
Beware of fraud, beware of ficklenesse,
In choice and change of thy beloved dame.
Spenser, FAERY QUEENE

Berenger' mind was relieved, even while his vanity was mortified, when
the Chevalier and his son came the next day to bring him the formal
letter requesting the Pope's annulment of his marriage. After he had
signed it, it was to be taken to Eustacie, and so soon as he should
attain his twenty-first year he was to dispose of Chateau Leurre, as
well as of his claim to the ancestral castle in Picardy, to his cousin
Narcisse, and thus become entirely free to transfer his allegiance to
the Queen of England.

It was a very good thing--that he well knew; and he had a strong sense
of virtue and obedience, as he formed with his pen the words in all
their fullness, Henri Beranger Eustache, Baron de Ribaumont et Seigneur
de Leurre. He could not help wondering whether the lady who looked at
him so admiringly really preferred such a mean-looking little fop as
Narcisse, whether she were afraid of his English home and breeding, or
whether all this open coquetry were really the court manners of
ladies towards gentlemen, and he had been an absolute simpleton to be
flattered. Any way, she would have been a most undesirable wife, and
he was well quit of her; but he did feel a certain lurking desire that,
since the bonds were cut and he was no longer in danger from her, he
might see her again, carry home a mental inventory of the splendid
beauties he had renounced, and decide what was the motive that actuated
her in rejecting his own handsome self. Meantime, he proceeded to enjoy
the amuseme