n his cupidity.

One of the day-dreams of his fancy was broken, never to return. The
immense fortune and high rank of the young Chatelaine de Repentigny
had excited the cupidity of De Pean for some time, and although the
voluptuous beauty of Angelique fastened his eyes, he would willingly
have sacrificed her for the reversion of the lordships of Tilly and
Repentigny.

De Pean's soul was too small to bear with equanimity the annihilation
of his cherished hopes. As he looked down upon his white hands, his
delicate feet, and irreproachable dress and manner, he seemed not to
comprehend that a true woman like Amelie cares nothing for these things
in comparison with a manly nature that seeks a woman for her own sake
by love, and in love, and not by the accessories of wealth and position.
For such a one she would go barefoot if need were, while golden slippers
would not tempt her to walk with the other.

Amelie's beau-ideal of manhood was embodied in Pierre Philibert, and the
greatest king in Christendom would have wooed in vain at her feet, much
less an empty pretender like the Chevalier de Pean.

"I would not have treated any gentleman so rudely," said Amelie in
confidence to Heloise de Lotbiniere when they had retired to the privacy
of their bedchamber. "No woman is justified in showing scorn of any
man's love, if it be honest and true; but the Chevalier de Pean is false
to the heart's core, and his presumption woke such an aversion in my
heart, that I fear my eyes showed less than ordinary politeness to his
unexpected advances."

"You were too gentle, not too harsh, Amelie," replied Heloise, with her
arm round her friend. "Had I been the object of his hateful addresses, I
should have repaid him in his own false coin: I would have led him on
to the brink of the precipice of a confession and an offer, and then I
would have dropped him as one drops a stone into the deep pool of the
Chaudiere."

"You were always more bold than I, Heloise; I could not do that for the
world," replied Amelie. "I would not willingly offend even the Chevalier
de Pean. Moreover, I fear him, and I need not tell you why, darling.
That man possesses a power over my dear brother that makes me tremble,
and in my anxiety for Le Gardeur I may have lingered, as I did
yesterday, too long in the parlor when in company with the Chevalier de
Pean, who, mistaking my motive, may have supposed that I hated not his
presence so much as I truly did!"

"Ameli