f honour, ability, and
character; such is what I have learned from a quarter where there can be
no mistake."

I was a good deal affected for a moment or two, and was very near
bursting into tears. The good Judge took my hand in his, and spoke
soothingly and almost caressingly, bidding me confide in him altogether,
and he would advise me, as if he were my own father.

I did so accordingly; and, while he approved highly of all that I had
done, and of the delicate and gentlemanly manner in which the Count had
acted, he fully advised me to deal frankly and directly with him. "You
like him, I am sure, Valerie; indeed, I believe I knew that before you
did yourself, and I have no doubt he will make you an admirable husband.
Tell him all, show him this letter of your friend Madame d'Albret's,
about your mother, and if he desires it, as I dare say he will, marry
him at once, and set out together with Auguste, for France, when his
leave of absence is expired, and go directly to Paris with your husband.
As a married woman, your parents will have no authority of any kind
over you, and I think it is your duty to do so."

I agreed with him at once; and, when in the evening Auguste returned
with the Count from a visit to his former tutor, which had been in all
respects satisfactory, and left me alone with Monsieur de Chavannes,
everything was determined without difficulty.

Love-scenes and courtships, though vastly interesting to the actors, are
always the dullest things in the world to bystanders; I shall therefore
proceed at once to the end, merely stating that the Count _was_ all, and
_did_ all, that the most _exigeante_ of women could have required--that
from the first to the last he was full of delicacy, of tenderness, and
honour, and that after twelve years of a happy life with him, I have
never had cause to repent for a moment that I consented to give him the
hand, which he so ardently desired.

The joy of Madame Gironac can be imagined better than described, as well
as the manner in which she bustled about my _trousseau_ and my outfit
for France, as it was determined that the Judge's plan should be adopted
to the letter, and that we should start directly from St George's to
Dover and Calais.

Never, perhaps, was a marriage more rapidly organised and completed.
The law-business was expedited with all speed by Charles Selwyn; Madame
Bathurst, the Jervises, the Gironacs, and the Selwyns were alone present
at the wedding,