ing expression of face, and he endeavored to calm his companion, who
appeared to be on the verge of desperation.

"Have courage," whispered he; "what is the use of giving way to passion?
You cannot help this; it is too late now. Besides, even if you could,
you would not, as you know very well, indeed!"

The old man was moving his spectacles, not to wipe his glasses, but his
eyes.

"Ah!" moaned he, "now I can enter into the feelings of M. de Mussidan
when I proved to him that his daughter had a lover. I have been hard and
pitiless, and I am cruelly punished."

"My old friend, you must not attach too much importance to what you have
heard. Paul is a mere boy, and, of course, a boaster."

"Paul is a miserably cowardly dog," answered the old man in a fierce
undertone. "Paul does not love the girl as she loves him; but what he
says is true, only too true, I can feel. Between her father and her
lover she would not hesitate for a moment. Ah! unhappy girl, what a
terrible future lies before her."

He stopped himself abruptly.

"I cannot speak to her myself," resumed he; "do you, doctor, strive and
make her have reason."

Hortebise shrugged his shoulders. "I will see what my powers of oratory
can do," answered he; "but you are not quite yourself to-day. Remember
that a chance word will betray the secret of our lives."

"Go at once, and I swear to you that, happen what may, I will be calm."

The doctor went back into Paul's room, while Tantaine sat down on the
topmost stair, his face buried in his hands.

Mademoiselle Flavia was just going to Paul, when the doctor again
appeared.

"What, back again?" asked she petulantly. "I thought that you had been
far away by this time."

"I want to say something to you," answered he, "and something of a
rather serious nature. You must not elevate those charming eyebrows. I
see you guess what I am going to say, and you are right. I am come to
tell you that this is not the proper place for Mademoiselle Rigal."

"I know that."

This unexpected reply, made with the calmest air in the world, utterly
disconcerted the smiling doctor.

"It seems to me----" began he.

"That I ought not to be here; but then, you see, I place duty before
cold, worldly dictates. Paul is very ill, and has no one to take care of
him except his affianced bride; for has not my father given his consent
to our union?"

"Flavia, listen to the experience of a man of the world. The nature
of men is such th