n allowed me to
go to my death! I give him up to you willingly!"

"Then why are you here?" asked Madame du Gua, eagerly.

"To recover the respect and consideration you took from me at La
Vivetiere, madame. As for all the rest, make yourself easy. Even if the
marquis returned to me, you know very well that a return is never love."

Madame du Gua took Mademoiselle de Verneuil's hand with that
affectionate touch and motion which women practise to each other,
especially in the presence of men.

"Well, my poor dear child," she said, "I am glad to find you so
reasonable. If the service I did you was rather harsh," she added,
pressing the hand she held, and feeling a desire to rend it as her
fingers felt its softness and delicacy, "it shall at least be thorough.
Listen to me, I know the character of the Gars; he meant to deceive you;
he neither can nor will marry any woman except--"

"Ah!"

"Yes, mademoiselle, he has accepted his dangerous mission to win the
hand of Mademoiselle d'Uxelles, a marriage to which his Majesty has
promised his countenance."

"Ah! ah!"

Mademoiselle de Verneuil added not a word to that scornful ejaculation.
The young and handsome Chevalier du Vissard, eager to be forgiven for
the joke which had led to the insults at La Vivetiere, now came up to
her and respectfully invited her to dance. She placed her hand in his,
and they took their places in a quadrille opposite to Madame du Gua. The
gowns of the royalist women, which recalled the fashions of the exiled
court, and their creped and powdered hair seemed absurd as soon as they
were contrasted with the attire which republican fashions authorized
Mademoiselle de Verneuil to wear. This attire, which was elegant, rich,
and yet severe, was loudly condemned but inwardly envied by all the
women present. The men could not restrain their admiration for the
beauty of her natural hair and the adjustment of a dress the charm of
which was in the proportions of the form which it revealed.

At that moment the marquis and the count re-entered the ballroom behind
Mademoiselle de Verneuil, who did not turn her head. If a mirror had not
been there to inform her of Montauran's presence, she would have
known it from Madame du Gua's face, which scarcely concealed, under an
apparently indifferent air, the impatience with which she awaited the
conflict which must, sooner or later, take place between the lovers.
Though the marquis talked with the count and other pe