h never to have to blush
again. I loved you, monsieur. I prayed every day for you. But she who
WAS my daughter was not of my mind. Monsieur, I have never knelt but to
God and to my king, and I kneel to you: forgive us, sir, forgive us!"

She tried to go down on her knees. He raised her with his strong arm,
but he could not speak. She turned on the others.

"So this is the secret you were hiding from me! This secret has not
killed you all. Oh! I shall not live under its shame so long as
you have. Chateau of Beaurepaire--nest of treason, ingratitude, and
immodesty--I loathe you as much as once I loved you. I will go and hide
my head, and die elsewhere."

"Stay, madame!" said he, in a voice whose depth and dignity was
such that it seemed impossible to disobey it. "It was sudden--I was
shaken--but I am myself again."

"Oh, show some pity!" cried Rose.

"I shall try to be just."

There was a long, trembling silence; and during that silence and
terrible agitation, one figure stood firm among those quaking, beating
hearts, like a rock with the waves breaking round it--the MAN OF
PRINCIPLE among the creatures of impulse.

He raised Josephine from her knees, and placed her all limp and
powerless in an arm-chair. To her frenzy had now succeeded a sickness
and feebleness like unto death.

"Widow Dujardin," said he, in a broken voice, "listen to me."

She moaned a sort of assent.

"Your mistake has been not trusting me. I was your friend, and not
a selfish friend. I was not enough in love with you to destroy your
happiness. Besides, I despise that sort of love. If you had told me all,
I would have spared you this misery. By the present law, civil contracts
of marriage can be dissolved by mutual consent."

At this the baroness uttered some sign of surprise.

"Ah!" continued Raynal, sadly, "you are aristocrats, and cannot keep
pace with the times. This very day our mere contract shall be formally
dissolved. Indeed, it ceases to exist since both parties are resolved
to withdraw from it. So, if you married Dujardin in a church, you are
Madame Dujardin at this moment, and his child is legitimate. What does
she say?"

This question was to Rose, for what Josephine uttered sounded like a
mere articulate moan. But Rose's quick ear had caught words, and she
replied, all in tears, "My poor sister is blessing you, sir. We all
bless you."

"She does not understand my position," said Raynal. He then walked up to
Josephine, and