given by the Countess C----, I discovered this
infamous secret. I was sitting in a lone part of the 'Winter Garden,'
when Countess Sarah and her brother, unconscious that a mass of verdure
alone concealed me from them, while it enabled me to hear each word they
spoke, began conversing freely upon their own projects, and the snare
they had spread for you. Anxious to warn you of the danger with which
you were threatened, I hastened to Madame de Nerval's ball, hoping to
meet you there, but you did not appear. To write and direct my letter
here was to incur the risk of its falling into the hands of the marquis,
whose suspicions were already aroused by your treacherous friend; and I
therefore preferred awaiting your arrival in the Rue du Temple, that I
might unfold to you the perfidy of Countess Macgregor. Let me hope you
will pardon my thus long dwelling on a subject which must be so painful
to you. And, but for the few lines you were kind enough to write, never
would my lips have in any way reverted to it."

After a momentary silence, Madame d'Harville said to Rodolph:

"There is but one way, my lord, in which I can prove to you my gratitude
for your late generous conduct. It is to confess to you that which I
have never revealed to a human being. What I have to say will not
exculpate me in your estimation, but it will, perhaps, enable you to
make some allowances for my imprudence."

"Candidly speaking, madame," said Rodolph, smiling, "my position as
regards you is a very embarrassing one."

Clemence, astonished at the almost jesting tone in which he spoke,
looked at Rodolph with extreme surprise, while she said, "How so, my
lord?"

"Thanks to a circumstance you are doubtless acquainted with, I am
obliged to assume the grave airs of a mentor touching an incident which,
since you have so happily escaped the vile snare laid for you by
Countess Sarah, scarcely merits being treated with so much importance.
But," continued Rodolph with a slight shade of gentle and affectionate
earnestness, "your husband and myself are almost as brothers; and,
before our time, our fathers had vowed the sincerest friendship for each
other. I have, therefore, a double motive in most warmly congratulating
you on having secured the peace and happiness of your husband!"

"And it is from my knowledge of the high regard and esteem with which
you honour M. d'Harville, that I have determined upon revealing the
whole truth, as well as to explain myse