eaujardin
altogether. As to his wife, the marquis confined himself to telling
her that Isidore was safe, but had gone abroad. Of course the baroness
soon heard this from her weak-minded sister-in-law, but she had learned
from de Crillon that both the birds had been snared, and felt quite
satisfied that the marquis had only sought to relieve his wife's
anxiety by a made up story of her son's safety.

The return of the Baron de Valricour from New France on a short
furlough did not mend matters. The baroness only told him that Isidore
and Marguerite had eloped, at which he was very indignant: the marquis
preserved a moody silence, feeling assured that the baroness had had
some hand in what had occurred, but he had no proofs. What could he
say? Besides, he hated such scenes as must needs ensue on a revelation
of the little he did know. So there was for a time a great coolness
between the two houses; but Madame de Valricour had now formed another
scheme, and as incessant dropping will wear away even a stone, she soon
contrived to induce the marchioness to insist on having Clotilde
frequently at Beaujardin. The marquis had always been fond of his
niece, and the fact that they both secretly grieved over the fate of
Isidore and Marguerite drew him still closer to her. This was just
what the baroness wanted. The match with Isidore was at an end, but
the marquis might be induced to adopt Clotilde. She took her measures
accordingly. Hints were now and then dropped about her returning to
Canada with the baron, and taking Clotilde with them. The marquis did
not disguise his reluctance to let Clotilde go. Now was the time to
get him to insist on Clotilde's remaining at Beaujardin, perhaps to
declare his intentions about the disposal of his property in her
favour. Much to her surprise and vexation, however, she found, on the
very first attempt to lead up to that subject, that both the marquis
and his wife assumed without question that Isidore's absence was only
temporary, and that he would certainly return some day to Beaujardin;
she was therefore compelled, for a time at least, to let things take
their course. The pretended journey to Canada with her husband was
abandoned, and M. de Valricour returned thither alone. At parting,
however, there was a reconciliation between him and the marquis, who,
after narrating all that had come to his own knowledge respecting his
son's marriage, and the events that had taken place a