e to know him well,
was a far more lovable person than the rest of you may like to
acknowledge."

"My dear friend," the Count replied, a little pointedly, "confess, now,
that he was not altogether indifferent to yourself, and that Charlotte
had more to fear from you than from any other rival. I find it one of
the highest traits in women, that they continue so long in their regard
for a man, and that absence of no duration will serve to disturb or
remove it."

"This fine feature, men possess, perhaps, even more," answered the
Baroness. "At any rate, I have observed with you, my dear Count, that no
one has more influence over you than a lady to whom you were once
attached. I have seen you take more trouble to do things when a certain
person has asked you, than the friend of this moment would have obtained
of you, if she had tried."

"Such a charge as that one must bear the best way one can," replied the
Count. "But as to what concerns Charlotte's first husband, I could not
endure him, because he parted so sweet a pair from each other--a really
predestined pair, who, once brought together, have no reason to fear the
five years, or be thinking of a second or third marriage."

"We must try," Charlotte said, "to make up for what we then allowed to
slip from us."

"Aye, and you must keep to that," said the Count; "your first
marriages," he continued, with some vehemence, "were exactly marriages
of the true detestable sort. And, unhappily, marriages generally, even
the best, have (forgive me for using a strong expression) something
awkward about them. They destroy the delicacy of the relation;
everything is made to rest on the broad certainty out of which one side
or other, at least, is too apt to make their own advantage. It is all a
matter of course; and they seem only to have got themselves tied
together, that one or the other, or both, may go their own way the more
easily."

At this moment, Charlotte, who was determined once for all that she
would put an end to the conversation, made a bold effort at turning it,
and succeeded. It then became more general. She and her husband and the
Captain were able to take a part in it. Even Ottilie had to give her
opinion; and the dessert was enjoyed in the happiest humor. It was
particularly beautiful, being composed almost entirely of the rich
summer fruits in elegant baskets, with epergnes of lovely flowers
arranged in exquisite taste.

The new laying-out of the park came to