the inexplicable girl, whose love had overcome
all, even insult, and who now avenged herself by forgiving that which
women are said never to forgive. His eyes grew less stern, less cold;
a look of sadness came upon his face. His love was stronger than he
suspected. Mademoiselle de Verneuil, satisfied with these faint signs of
a desired reconciliation, glanced at him tenderly, with a smile that was
like a kiss; then she leaned back once more in the carriage, determined
not to risk the future of this happy drama, believing she had assured
it with her smile. She was so beautiful! She knew so well how to conquer
all obstacles to love! She was so accustomed to take all risks and
push on at all hazards! She loved the unexpected, and the tumults of
life--why should she fear?

Before long the carriage, under the young chief's directions, left the
highway and took a road cut between banks planted with apple-trees, more
like a ditch than a roadway, which led to La Vivetiere. The carriage
now advanced rapidly, leaving the escort to follow slowly towards the
manor-house, the gray roofs of which appeared and disappeared among the
trees. Some of the men lingered on the way to knock the stiff clay of
the road-bed from their shoes.

"This is devilishly like the road to Paradise," remarked Beau-Pied.

Thanks to the impatience of the postilion, Mademoiselle de Verneuil soon
saw the chateau of La Vivetiere. This house, standing at the end of a
sort of promontory, was protected and surrounded by two deep lakelets,
and could be reached only by a narrow causeway. That part of the little
peninsula on which the house and gardens were placed was still further
protected by a moat filled with water from the two lakes which it
connected. The house really stood on an island that was well-nigh
impregnable,--an invaluable retreat for a chieftain, who could be
surprised there only by treachery.

Mademoiselle de Verneuil put her head out of the carriage as she heard
the rusty hinges of the great gates open to give entrance to an arched
portal which had been much injured during the late war. The gloomy
colors of the scene which met her eyes almost extinguished the thoughts
of love and coquetry in which she had been indulging. The carriage
entered a large courtyard that was nearly square, bordered on each side
by the steep banks of the lakelets. Those sterile shores, washed by
water, which was covered with large green patches, had no other ornament
t