m my promise."

"You are mistaken, Henri," replied the grand-admiral; "I have no greater
reason for permitting you to leave to-day than I had yesterday."

"I regret that it is so; but in that case, for the first time in my
life, I shall have the misfortune to disobey your orders, and to fail
in the respect I owe you; for from this very moment I declare to you,
Anne, that nothing shall restrain me any longer from taking religious
vows."

"But the dispensation which is expected from Rome?"

"I can await it in a convent."

"You must positively be mad to think of such a thing." exclaimed
Joyeuse, as he rose, with stupefaction depicted on his countenance.

"On the contrary, my dear and honored brother, I am the wisest of you
all, for I alone know what I am about."'

"Henri, you promised us a month."

"Impossible."

"A week, then, longer."

"Not an hour."

"You are suffering so much, then, poor boy?"

"On the contrary, I have ceased to suffer, and that is why the evil is
without a remedy."

"But, at all events, this woman is not made of bronze; her feelings can
be worked upon; I will undertake to persuade her."

"You cannot do impossibilities, Anne; besides, even were she to allow
herself to be persuaded now, it is I who could no longer consent to love
her."

"Well, that is quite another matter."

"Such is the case, however, my brother."

"What! if she were now willing, would you be indifferent? Why, this is
sheer madness."

"Oh! no! no!" exclaimed Henri, with a shudder of horror, "nothing can
any longer exist between that woman and myself."

"What does this mean?" inquired Joyeuse, with marked surprise; "and who
can this woman really be? Come, tell me, Henri; you know very well that
we have never had any secrets from each other."

Henri trembled lest he had said too much, and that, in yielding to the
feeling which he had just exhibited, he had opened a channel by means of
which his brother would be able to penetrate the terrible secret which
he kept imprisoned in his breast. He therefore fell into an opposite
extreme; and, as it happens in such cases, and in order to recall the
imprudent words which had escaped him, he pronounced others which were
more imprudent still.

"Do not press me further," he said; "this woman will never be mine,
since she belongs to Heaven."

"Folly!--mere idle tales! This woman a nun! She has deceived you."

"No, no, this woman has not spoken falsely; she is now an Hos