ately,--its contents are most
important to you.' So saying, he disappeared as quickly as he came. In
the letter he informed me that it was in agitation to marry me to the
Marquis d'Harville, and that the match appeared in every respect
eligible, inasmuch as every one concurred in bearing testimony to the
many excellent qualities of M. d'Harville, who was young, rich,
good-looking, and highly distinguished for his talents and mental
attainments; yet that the families of two young ladies, with whom he had
been on the point of marriage, had abruptly broken off the matches. The
notary added that, although entirely ignorant of the cause of these
ruptures, he still considered it his duty to apprise me of them, without
in the slightest degree insinuating that they originated in any
circumstance prejudicial to the high opinion entertained of M.
d'Harville. The two young ladies alluded to were, one, the daughter of
M. Beauregard, a peer of France; the other, of Lord Dudley. M. Dorval
concluded by saying that his motive in making the communication was
because my father, in his extreme desire to conclude the marriage, did
not appear to attach sufficient importance to the facts now detailed."

"Now you recall it to my recollection," said Rodolph, after some minutes
spent in deep meditation on what he had just heard, "I remember that
your husband, at intervals of nearly twelve months, told me of two
marriages which had been broken off just as they were on the point of
taking place, and ascribing their abrupt termination to a difficulty in
arranging matters of a mere pecuniary nature."

Madame d'Harville smiled bitterly as she replied:

"You shall know what those motives really were, my lord, very shortly.
After reading the letter, so kindly intentioned on the part of the
worthy notary, I felt both my uneasiness and curiosity rapidly increase.
Who was D'Harville? My father had never mentioned him to me. In vain I
ransacked my memory; I could not recollect ever to have heard the name.
Soon, however, the current of my thoughts was directed into another
channel by the abrupt departure of Madame Roland for Paris. Although the
period of her absence was limited to eight days at the utmost, yet my
father expressed the deepest grief at even this trifling separation from
her. His temper became altogether soured, and his coldness towards me
hourly increased; he even went so far as to reply, when one day I
inquired after his health, 'I am ill