I believed you worldly, interested, not
open-hearted. But you are none of these; you are an excellent woman--a
heart of gold--a noble soul! My dear friend, you have found the best way
to convert me. I have always believed the religion of honor was
sufficient for a man--eh, Camors? But I am not an unbeliever, my dear
Countess, and, on my sacred word, when I see a perfect creature like you,
I desire to believe everything she believes, if only to be pleasant to
her!"

When Camors, who was not quite so innocent, asked himself what was the
secret of his aunt's politic conduct, but little effort was necessary to
understand it.

Madame de la Roche-Jugan, who had finally convinced herself that the
General had an aneurism, flattered herself that the cares of matrimony
would hasten the doom of her old friend. In any event, he was past
seventy years of age. But Charlotte was young, and so also was Sigismund.
Sigismund could become tender; if necessary, could quietly court the
young Marquise until the day when he could marry her, with all her
appurtenances, over the mausoleum of the General. It was for this that
Madame de la Roche-Jugan, crushed for a moment under the unexpected blow
that ruined her hopes, had modified her tactics and drawn her batteries,
so to speak, under cover of the enemy. This was what she was contriving
while she was weeping behind the curtain.

Camors's personal feelings at the announcement of this marriage were not
of the most agreeable description. First, he was obliged to acknowledge
that he had unjustly judged Mademoiselle d'Estrelles, and that at the
moment of his accusing her of speculating on his small fortune, she was
offering to sacrifice for him the annual seven hundred thousand francs of
the General.

He felt his vanity injured, that he had not had the best part of this
affair. Besides, he felt obliged to stifle from this moment the secret
passion with which the beautiful and singular girl had inspired him. Wife
or widow of the General, it was clear that Mademoiselle d'Estrelles had
forever escaped him. To seduce the wife of this good old man from whom he
accepted such favors, or even to marry her, widowed and rich, after
refusing her when poor, were equal unworthiness and baseness that honor
forbade in the same degree and with the same rigor as if this honor,
which he made the only law of his life, were not a mockery and an empty
word.

Camors, however, did not fail to comprehend the positi