self, the heart of Fleur-de-Marie became
painfully contracted. Clemence replied, gently, in order that she might
not awaken her protegee's suspicions by too sudden a return to a milder
tone:

"Really I must repeat that I cannot understand why, having so much to
praise your benefactor for, you are left here a prisoner. How is it
that, after having returned with all sincerity to the paths of
rectitude, you could have been apprehended, at night, in a forbidden
place? All this, I confess to you, appears to me very extraordinary. You
speak of an oath, which has bound you to silence; but this very oath is
so strange!"

"I have spoken the truth, madame--"

"I am sure of that; it is only to see and hear you to be convinced that
you are incapable of falsehood; but what is so incomprehensible in your
situation makes me the more curious and impatient to have it cleared up;
and to this alone must you attribute the abruptness of my language just
now. I was wrong, I feel I was, for, although I have no claim to your
confidence beyond my anxious desire to be of service to you, yet you
have offered to disclose to me what you have not yet told to any person;
and I can assure you, my poor girl, that this proof of your confidence
in the interest I feel for you touches me very nearly. I promise you to
keep your secret most scrupulously, if you confide it to me, and I will
do everything in my power to effect what you may wish to have done."

Thanks to this skilful patching up (the phrase will be excused, we
trust), Madame d'Harville regained La Goualeuse's confidence, which had
been for a moment repressed. Fleur-de-Marie, in her candour, reproached
herself for having wrongly interpreted the words which had wounded her.

"Excuse me, madame," she said to Clemence; "I was, no doubt, wrong not
to tell you at once what you desired to know, but you asked me for the
name of my preserver, and, in spite of myself, I could not resist the
pleasure of speaking of him."

"Nothing could be more praiseworthy, and it proves how truly grateful
you are to him. Tell me how it was that you left the worthy people with
whom you were, no doubt, placed by M. Rodolph? Is it to this event that
the oath you were compelled to take, refers?"

"Yes, madame; but, thanks to you, I think I may still keep my word
faithfully, and, at the same time, inform my benefactors as to my
disappearance."

"Now, then, my poor girl, I am all attention to you."

"It is three mo