ay, unrebuked by her own conscience or
the conscience of the man she loved.

Theo had turned away and stood with folded arms, awaiting her answer.

And she let her chance go by, for she could not bear to say the words
that should hurt him, and in the quiet night under the shadow of the old
house, it seemed to her that, after all, her happiness lay in this boy's
hands. Not the wild rapture she had once or twice felt with Joyselle,
but the kind of happiness that builds homes, and--she wanted a home.

Inexplicably tangled with her feelings for Theo, too, was that anything
binding her to him bound her to his father. They were more than father
and son, these two, they belonged together.

"I--do care for you," she said quietly. "I am not in love with you, but
I will marry you."

As he turned and held out his arms to her, Joyselle appeared at the end
of the lawn. Brigit did not see him, and going slowly to her lover
allowed him to embrace her.

"Ma Brigitte, _mon ange_--I--how can I thank you. Ah, what I have felt
these last five months! I have thought--oh, many things, of late."

His voice shook and was good to hear in its sincere emotion. For the
moment in her new-born wish to be good to him she felt that she had done
the wise thing, and was happy. He was good, and she would marry him
and--life would go on for ever, as it had been the last few weeks.

Joyselle, standing quite still in the shadow, watched them for a moment.
Then he turned and went back into the house.

CHAPTER FIVE

The morning of the eighth of September dawned that year very gloriously,
and Brigit Mead saw it dawn. Theo had begged her the evening before to
go with him to the castle to see the sunrise, and pleased by the
originality of the idea, she had accepted.

So while the sweet summer night still held sway over the pleasant Norman
land, the two climbed the steep street leading to the gates under the
ivy-grown bastions.

"The _concierge_ always goes with visitors," the young man explained as
they passed the little house and began mounting. "But father was at
school with him, so I got a permit to go up alone."

"Is your father all right to-day, I wonder? Or will he be?" returned
Brigit thoughtfully. "I never knew him to have a headache before."

"No more did I," answered Theo, running his words together as he did
when he had been speaking much French. "He looked very seedy yesterday,
but last night Tante Bathilde went in to see him