ion should have
escaped him in the surprise of the moment; but stating that since the
offence I had owned was one that he could not overlook, he was under
the necessity of asking the only reparation I could make. That if it
'deranged' me to quit Paris, he would return to it for the purpose
required; but that if I would give him the additional satisfaction
of suiting his convenience, he should prefer to await my arrival at
Bayonne, where he was detained by the indisposition of the Duchesse."

"You have still that letter?" asked Louvier, quickly. "Yes; with
other more important documents constituting what I may call my pieces
justificatives.

"I need not say that I replied stating the time at which I should arrive
at Bayonne, and the hotel at which I should await the Duc's command.
Accordingly I set out that same day, gained the hotel named, despatched
to the Duc the announcement of my arrival, and was considering how I
should obtain a second in some officer quartered in the town--for
my soreness and resentment at the marked coldness of my former
acquaintances at Paris had forbidden me to seek a second among any of
that faithless number--when the Due himself entered my room. Judge of my
amaze at seeing him in person; judge how much greater the amaze became
when he advanced with a grave but cordial smile, offering me his hand!

"'Monsieur de Mauleon,' said he, 'since I wrote to you, facts have
become known to me which would induce me rather to ask your friendship
than call on you to defend your life. Madame la Duchesse has been
seriously ill since we left Paris, and I refrained from all explanations
likely to add to the hysterical excitement under which she was
suffering. It is only this day that her mind became collected, and she
herself then gave me her entire confidence. Monsieur, she insisted on my
reading the letters that you addressed to her. Those letters, Monsieur,
suffice to prove your innocence of any design against my peace. The
Duchesse has so candidly avowed her own indiscretion, has so clearly
established the distinction between indiscretion and guilt, that I have
granted her my pardon with a lightened heart and a firm belief that we
shall be happier together than we have been yet.'

"The Due continued his journey the next day, but he subsequently
honoured me with two or three letters written as friend to friend, and
in which you will find repeated the substance of what I have stated him
to say by word of