, who knew not which to obey, deceived even Corentin; but
the Chouan, finally, after an imperative gesture from the lady, left the
room with a dragging step. Mademoiselle de Verneuil and Corentin looked
at each other in silence. This time Marie's limpid eyes could not endure
the gleam of cruel fire in the man's look. The resolute manner in which
the spy had forced his way into her room, an expression on his face
which Marie had never seen there before, the deadened tones of his
shrill voice, his whole demeanor,--all these things alarmed her; she
felt that a secret struggle was about to take place between them,
and that he meant to employ against her all the powers of his evil
influence. But though she had at this moment a full and distinct view
of the gulf into which she was plunging, she gathered strength from her
love to shake off the icy chill of these presentiments.

"Corentin," she said, with a sort of gayety, "I hope you are going to
let me make my toilet?"

"Marie," he said,--"yes, permit me to call you so,--you don't yet know
me. Listen; a much less sagacious man than I would see your love for
the Marquis de Montauran. I have several times offered you my heart
and hand. You have never thought me worthy of you; and perhaps you are
right. But however much you may feel yourself too high, too beautiful,
too superior for me, I can compel you to come down to my level. My
ambition and my maxims have given you a low opinion of me; frankly, you
are mistaken. Men are not worth even what I rate them at, and that is
next to nothing. I shall certainly attain a position which will gratify
your pride. Who will ever love you better, or make you more absolutely
mistress of yourself and of him, than the man who has loved you now for
five years? Though I run the risk of exciting your suspicions,--for you
cannot conceive that any one should renounce an idolized woman out
of excessive love,--I will now prove to you the unselfishness of my
passion. If the marquis loves you, marry him; but before you do so, make
sure of his sincerity. I could not endure to see you deceived, for I do
prefer your happiness to my own. My resolution may surprise you; lay
it to the prudence of a man who is not so great a fool as to wish to
possess a woman against her will. I blame myself, not you, for the
failure of my efforts to win you. I hoped to do so by submission and
devotion, for I have long, as you well know, tried to make you happy
according to m