ask. May it bring happiness to--to--to all of us!" He
wrung the Count's hand with a grip that spoke of settled purpose. "You
shall hear how I fare very soon," he said, as he made for the door.

The Count nodded hopefully, and, when he was left alone, set to work on
a little lyric of joy, with which to welcome the return of his forgiven
and forgiving spouse.

But it was hard on Captain Dieppe; the strictest moralist may admit
that without endangering his principles. Say the Captain had been
blameworthy; still his punishment was heavy--heavy and most woefully
prompt. His better nature, his finer feelings, his instincts of honour
and loyalty, might indeed respond to the demand made on them by the
mission with which his friend entrusted him. But the demand was heavy,
the call grievous. Where he had pictured joy, there remained now only
renunciation; he had dreamed of conquest; there could be none, save the
hardest and least grateful, the conquest of himself. Firm the Captain
might be, but sad he must be. He could still serve the Countess (was
not Paul de Roustache still dangerous?), but he could look for no
reward. Small wonder that the meeting, whose risks and difficulty had
made it seem before only the sweeter, now lost all its delight, and
became the hardest of ordeals, the most severe and grim of duties.

If this was the Captain's mood, that of the lady whom he was to meet
could be hardly more cheerful. If conscience seemed to trouble her
less, and unhappy love not to occupy her mind as it governed his, the
external difficulties of her position occasioned her greater distress
and brought her near despair. Paul de Roustache's letter had been
handed to her by her servant, with a smile half reproachful, half
mocking, she had seized it, torn it open, and read it. She understood
its meaning; she saw that the dreaded crisis had indeed come; and she
was powerless to deal with it, or to avert the catastrophe it
threatened. She sat before it now, very near to doing just what Count
Andrea hated to think of and Captain Dieppe could not endure to see;
and as she read and re-read the hateful thing she moaned softly to
herself:

"Oh, how could I be so silly! How could I put myself in such a
position? How could I consent to anything of the sort? I don't know
what 'll happen. I have n't got fifty thousand francs! Oh, Emilia,
how could you do it? I don't know what to do! And I 'm all
alone--alone to face this fe