turned deadly pale, and her
head fell heavily on her mother's shoulders.

"My darling, my dear darling! This is, indeed, a cruel thing; I know it
well. But it would have been still worse had you waited. Take courage,
then, and draw at once the knife from the wound. Repeat to yourself,
whenever the thought of this young man comes to you, that never would
Monseigneur, the terrible Jean XII, whose intractable pride, it appears,
is still recollected by all the world, give his son, the last of his
race, to a little embroiderer, found under a gateway and adopted by poor
people like ourselves."

In her weakness, Angelique heard all this without making any objection.
What was it she felt pass over her face? A cold breath coming from a
distance, from far above the roofs of the houses, seemed to freeze her
blood. Was it true that her mother was telling her of this misery of the
world, this sad reality, in the same way that parents relate the story
of the wolf to unreasonable children? She would never forget the shock
and the grief of this first experience of a bitter disappointment. Yet,
however, she already excused Felicien. He had told no falsehood; he
simply had been silent. Were his father to wish him to marry this young
girl, no doubt he would refuse to do so. But as yet he had not dared to
rebel. As he had not said anything to her of the matter, perhaps it was
because he had just made up his mind as to what it was best for him to
do. Before this sudden vanishing away of her air-castles, pale and weak
from the rude touch of the actual life, she still kept her faith,
and trusted, in spite of all, in the future realisation of her dream.
Eventually the fair promises for the future would come to pass, even
although now her pride was crushed and she sank down into a state of
humiliation and resignation.

"Mother, it is true I have done wrong, but I will never sin again. I
promise you that I will be patient, and submit myself without a murmur
of revolt to whatever Heaven wishes me to be."

It was true grace which spoke within her. The trial was great, but she
was able to conquer, from the effects of the education she had received
and the excellent example of the home life in which she had grown up.
Why should she doubt the morrow, when until this present moment everyone
near her had been so generous and so tender towards her? She prayed
that she might be able to have the wisdom of Catherine, the meekness
of Elizabeth, the chas