o endure, you say. I also know how to endure. We will not
see each other for a time; and then, when both of us have contrived to
recover calmness to some extent, we will think about arrangements for
a happiness sanctioned by the world. I am young, Armand; a man with no
delicacy might tempt a woman of four-and-twenty to do many foolish, wild
things for his sake. But _you_! You will be my friend, promise me that
you will?"

"The woman of four-and-twenty," returned he, "knows what she is about."

He sat down on the sofa in the boudoir, and leant his head on his hands.

"Do you love me, madame?" he asked at length, raising his head, and
turning a face full of resolution upon her. "Say it straight out; Yes or
No!"

His direct question dismayed the Duchess more than a threat of suicide
could have done; indeed, the woman of the nineteenth century is not to
be frightened by that stale stratagem, the sword has ceased to be part
of the masculine costume. But in the effect of eyelids and lashes, in
the contraction of the gaze, in the twitching of the lips, is there not
some influence that communicates the terror which they express with such
vivid magnetic power?

"Ah, if I were free, if----"

"Oh! is it only your husband that stands in the way?" the General
exclaimed joyfully, as he strode to and fro in the boudoir. "Dear
Antoinette, I wield a more absolute power than the Autocrat of all the
Russias. I have a compact with Fate; I can advance or retard destiny,
so far as men are concerned, at my fancy, as you alter the hands of a
watch. If you can direct the course of fate in our political machinery,
it simply means (does it not?) that you understand the ins and outs of
it. You shall be free before very long, and then you must remember your
promise."

"Armand!" she cried. "What do you mean? Great heavens! Can you imagine
that I am to be the prize of a crime? Do you want to kill me? Why! you
cannot have any religion in you! For my own part, I fear God. M. de
Langeais may have given me reason to hate him, but I wish him no manner
of harm."

M. de Montriveau beat a tattoo on the marble chimney-piece, and only
looked composedly at the lady.

"Dear," continued she, "respect him. He does not love me, he is not kind
to me, but I have duties to fulfil with regard to him. What would I not
do to avert the calamities with which you threaten him?--Listen," she
continued after a pause, "I will not say another word about separation;