er, Bluette
joined her friend Celine Gamelle in a fiacre, and laughed heartily,
clapping her little plump hands. "Ah, mon Dieu! Celine, comme elle est
fiere, la petite! Je ne lui ai pas dit un seul mot--elle m'a arretee si
vite, si vite! Mais la lettre fera notre affaire n'est pas? Oui, oui!"

The letter unfolded in Nina's hand. It was a promise of marriage from
Ernest Vaughan to Bluette Lemaire. Voiceless and tearless, Nina sat
gazing on the paper: first she rose, gasping for breath; then she threw
herself down, sobbing convulsively, till she heard a step, caught up the
miniature and letter, dreading to see her father, and, instead, saw
Ernest, pale, worn, deep lines round his mouth and eyes, standing in the
doorway. Involuntarily she sprang towards him. Ernest pressed her to
heart, and his hot tears fell on the chevelure doree, as he bent over
her, murmuring, "_You_ have not deserted me. God bless you for your
noble faith." At last he put her gently from him, and, leaning against
the mantelpiece, said, with an effort, between his teeth, "Nina, I came
to bid you farewell, and to ask your forgiveness for the wrong I have
done you."

Nina caught hold of him, much as Malibran seized hold of _Elvino_:
"Leave me! leave me! No, no; you cannot mean it!"

"I have no strength for it now I see you," said Ernest, looking down
into her eyes; and the bold, reckless _Lion_ shivered under the clinging
clasp of her little hands. "I need not say I was not the cause of the
insult you received the other night. Pauline de Melusine was the agent,
women willing to injure me the actors in it. But there is still much for
you to forgive. Tell me, at once, what have you heard of me?"

She silently put the miniature and letter in his hand. The blood rushed
to his very temples, and, sinking his head on his arms, his chest rose
and fell with uncontrollable sobs. All the pent-up feelings of his
vehement and affectionate nature poured out at last.

"And you have not condemned me even on these?" he said at length, in a
hoarse whisper.

"Did I not promise?" she murmured.

"But if I told you they were true?"

She looked at him through her tears, and put her hand in his. "Tell me
nothing of your past; it can make no difference to my love. Let the
world judge you as it may, it cannot alter me."

Ernest strained her to him, kissing her wildly. "God bless you for your
trust! would to God I were more worthy of it! I have nothing to give you
but a