This evening Felicien is to talk
of it with his father. To-morrow he will come to arrange everything with
you."

Could it be true that she believed all this? Hubertine was distressed,
and knew not what to do. At last she concluded it was best to be
pitiless and tell her; that it would be impossible for a little
embroiderer without money and without name to marry Felicien
d'Hautecoeur. A young man who was worth so many millions! The last
descendant of one of the oldest families of France! No, that could never
be.

But at each new obstacle Angelique tranquilly replied: "But why not?"
It would be a real scandal, a marriage beyond all ordinary conditions
of happiness. Did she hope, then, to contend against all the world? "But
why not?" Monseigneur is called very strict and very haughty, proud
of his name, and severe in his criticisms in regard to all marks of
affection. Could she dare to expect to bend him?

"But why not?" And, unshakable in her faith, in her firm, ingenuous
manner she said: "It is very odd, dear mother, that you should think
people all so bad! Especially when I have just assured you that
everything is well under way, and is sure to come out all right. Do you
not recollect that only two months ago you scolded me, and ridiculed
my plans? Yet I was right, and everything that I expected has come to
pass."

"But, unhappy child, wait for the end!"

Hubertine now thought of the past, and was angry with herself, as she
now reflected, more bitterly than ever before, that Angelique had
been brought up in such ignorance. Again she predicted to her the
hard lessons of the reality of life, and she would have liked to have
explained to her some of the cruelties and abominations of the world,
but, greatly embarrassed, she could not find the necessary words. What
a grief it would be to her if some day she were forced to accuse herself
of having brought about the unhappiness of this child, who had been kept
alone as a recluse, and allowed to dwell in the continued falsehood of
imagination and dreams!

"Listen to me, dearest. You certainly would not wish to marry this young
man against the wish of us all, and without the consent of his father?"

Angelique had grown very serious. She looked her mother in the face, and
in a serious tone replied:

"Why should I not do so? I love him, and he loves me."

With a pang of anguish, Hubertine took her again in her arms, clasped
her tenderly, but convulsively, and looked