g back; she is rich and
I am poor. You can understand that I would not, for any consideration,
allow her to think that I am courting her for her money--"

"Still, you desire to marry her, and you hope that she will not say
no--you acknowledge that!" cried Julien, vociferously.

Claudet, struck with the violence and bitterness of tone of his
companion, came up to him.

"How angrily you say that, Monsieur de Buxieres!" exclaimed he in his
turn; "upon my word, one might suppose the affair is very displeasing to
you. Will you let me tell you frankly an idea that has already entered my
head several times these last two or three days, and which has come again
now, while I have been listening to you? It is that perhaps you,
yourself, are also in love with Reine?"

"I!" protested Julien. He felt humiliated at Claudet's perspicacity; but
he had too much pride and selfrespect to let his preferred rival know of
his unfortunate passion. He waited a moment to swallow something in his
throat that seemed to be choking him, and then, trying in vain to steady
his voice, he added:

"You know that I have an aversion for women; and for that matter, I think
they return it with interest. But, at all events, I am not foolish enough
to expose myself to their rebuffs. Rest assured, I shall not follow at
your heels!"

Claudet shook his head incredulously.

"You doubt it," continued de Buxieres; "well, I will prove it to you. You
can not declare your wishes because Reine is rich and you are poor? I
will take charge of the whole matter."

"I--I do not understand you," faltered Claudet, bewildered at the strange
turn the conversation was taking.

"You will understand-soon," asserted Julien, with a gesture of both
decision and resignation.

The truth was, he had made one of those resolutions which seem illogical
and foolish at first sight, but are natural to minds at once timid and
exalted. The suffering caused by Claudet's revelations had become so
acute that he was alarmed. He recognized with dismay the disastrous
effects of this hopeless love, and determined to employ a heroic remedy
to arrest its further ravages. This was nothing less than killing his
love, by immediately getting Claudet married to Reine Vincart. Sacrifices
like this are easier to souls that have been subjected since their
infancy to Christian discipline, and accustomed to consider the
renunciation of mundane joys as a means of securing eternal salvation. As
soon as