forged by the law? I defended my errors; and in my appeal to the
purity of innocence, I left nothing unsaid that could touch a noble and
generous nature. But as I am telling you everything, I will look for
her answer and my farewell letter," said Benassis, and he went up to his
room in search of it.

He returned in a few moments with a worn pocketbook; his hands trembled
with emotion as he drew from it some loose sheets.

"Here is the fatal letter," he said. "The girl who wrote those lines
little knew the value that I should set upon the scrap of paper that
holds her thoughts. This is the last cry that pain wrung from me," he
added, taking up a second letter; "I will lay it before you directly.
My old friend was the bearer of my letter of entreaty; he gave it to
her without her parents' knowledge, humbling his white hair to implore
Evelina to read and to reply to my appeal. This was her answer:

"'Monsieur...' But lately I had been her 'beloved,' the innocent name
she had found by which to express her innocent love, and now she called
me _Monsieur_!... That one word told me everything. But listen to the
rest of the letter:

"'Treachery on the part of one to whom her life was to be intrusted is a
bitter thing for a girl to discover; and yet I could not but excuse you,
we are so weak! Your letter touched me, but you must not write to me
again, the sight of your handwriting gives me such unbearable pain.
We are parted for ever. I was carried away by your reasoning; it
extinguished all the harsh feelings that had risen up against you in my
soul. I had been so proud of your truth! But both of us have found my
father's reasoning irresistible. Yes, monsieur, I ventured to plead
for you. I did for you what I have never done before, I overcame the
greatest fears that I have ever known, and acted almost against my
nature. Even now I am yielding to your entreaties, and doing wrong for
your sake, in writing to you without my father's knowledge. My mother
knows that I am writing to you; her indulgence in leaving me at liberty
to be alone with you for a moment has taught me the depth of her love
for me, and strengthened my determination to bow to the decree of my
family, against which I had almost rebelled. So I am writing to you,
monsieur, for the first and last time. You have my full and entire
forgiveness for the troubles that you have brought into my life. Yes,
you are right; a first love can never be forgotten. I am no lon