the marvellous
illusion of conquered love that had visited him for a moment in the
agitated watches of the night, which might have been his last on earth,
he comprehended now its true nature. It had been merely a paroxysm of
delirious conceit. Thus to this man, sobered by the victorious issue
of a duel, life appeared robbed of its charm, simply because it was no
longer menaced.

Approaching the house from the back, through the orchard and the kitchen
garden, he could not notice the agitation which reigned in front. He
never met a single soul. Only while walking softly along the corridor,
he became aware that the house was awake and more noisy than usual.
Names of servants were being called out down below in a confused noise
of coming and going. With some concern he noticed that the door of his
own room stood ajar, though the shutters had not been opened yet. He
had hoped that his early excursion would have passed unperceived. He
expected to find some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering
through the usual cracks enabled him to see lying on the low divan
something bulky, which had the appearance of two women clasped in each
other's arms. Tearful and desolate murmurs issued mysteriously from that
appearance. General D'Hubert pulled open the nearest pair of shutters
violently. One of the women then jumped up. It was his sister. She stood
for a moment with her hair hanging down and her arms raised straight up
above her head, and then flung herself with a stifled cry into his arms.
He returned her embrace, trying at the same time to disengage himself
from it. The other woman had not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to
cling closer to the divan, hiding her face in the cushions. Her hair was
also loose; it was admirably fair. General D'Hubert recognized it with
staggering emotion. Mademoiselle de Valmassigue! Adele! In distress!

He became greatly alarmed, and got rid of his sister's hug definitely.
Madame Leonie then extended her shapely bare arm out of her peignoir,
pointing dramatically at the divan. "This poor, terrified child has
rushed here from home, on foot, two miles--running all the way."

"What on earth has happened?" asked General D'Hubert in a low, agitated
voice.

But Madame Leonie was speaking loudly. "She rang the great bell at
the gate and roused all the household--we were all asleep yet. You may
imagine what a terrible shock. . . . Adele, my dear child, sit up."

General D'Hubert's express