Michelot--in obedience to the orders I had given him--got down only to
be informed that Madame la Duchesse was in the country. The lackey who
was summoned did not know where the lady might be found, nor when she
might return to Paris. And so I was compelled to drive back almost
despairingly to the Rue St. Antoine, and there lie concealed, nursing my
impatience, until my aunt should return.

Daily I sent Michelot to the Hotel de Luynes to make the same inquiry,
and to return daily with the same dispiriting reply--that there was no
news of Madame la Duchesse.

In this fashion some three weeks wore themselves out, during which
period I lay in my concealment, a prey to weariness unutterable. I might
not venture forth save at night, unless I wore a mask; and as masks
were no longer to be worn without attracting notice--as during the late
king's reign--I dared not indulge the practice.

Certainly my ennui was greatly relieved by the visits of Montresor,
which grew very frequent, the lad appearing to have conceived a kindness
for me; and during those three weeks our fellowship at nights over a
bottle or two engendered naturally enough a friendship and an intimacy
between us.

I had written to Andrea on the morrow of my return to Paris, to tell
him how kindly Montresor had dealt with me, and some ten days later the
following letter was brought me by the lieutenant--to whom, for safety,
it had been forwarded:

"MY VERY DEAR GASTON:

I have no words wherewith to express my joy at the good news you send
me, which terminates the anxiety that has been mine since you left us on
the disastrous morning of our nuptials.

The uncertainty touching your fate, the fear that the worst might have
befallen you, and the realisation that I--for whom you have done so
much--might do naught for you in your hour of need, has been the one
cloud to mar the sunshine of my own bliss.

That cloud your letter has dispelled, and the knowledge of your safety
renders my happiness complete.

The Chevalier maintains his unforgiving mood, as no doubt doth also my
Lord Cardinal. But what to me are the frowns of either, so that my lady
smile? My little Genevieve is yet somewhat vexed in spirit at all this,
but I am teaching her to have faith in Time, the patron saint of all
lovers who follow not the course their parents set them. And so that
time may be allowed to intercede and appeal to the parent heart with
the potent prayer of a daughter's abse