find them out by the teachings, and judge of them
according to the light views of his young and excitable associates. He
who is forewarned is fore-weaponed. I was kept pure, as it is
termed--or in other words, kept ignorant of myself and of the world I
was destined to live in, until one fine day I was cut loose from the
apron-strings of my lady mother, and the tether of my abbe tutor, and
launched head-foremost into that vortex of temptation and iniquity,
the world of Paris, like a ship without a chart or a compass. A
precious race I ran in consequence, for a time; and if I had not been
so fortunate as to meet you, Marie, whose bright eyes brought me out,
like a blessed beacon, safe from that perilous ocean, I know not but I
should have suffered shipwreck, both in fortune, which is a trifle,
and in character, which is every thing. No, no; if that is all in
which you doubt, your fears are causeless."

"But that is not all. In this you may be right--I know not; at all
events you are a fitter judge than I. But are you wise in encouraging
so very strongly his fancy for Melanie d'Argenson?"

"I'faith, it is something more than a fancy, I think; the boy loves
her."

"I see that, Louis, clearly; and you encourage it."

"And wherefore should I not. She is a good girl--as good as she is
beautiful."

"She is an angel."

"And her mother, Marie, was your most intimate, your bosom friend."

"And now a saint in Heaven!"

"Well, what more; she is as noble as a De Rohan, or a Montmorency. She
is an heiress with superb estates adjoining our own lands of St.
Renan. She is, like our Raoul, an only child. And what is the most of
all, I think, although it is not the mode in this dear France of ours
to attach much weight to that, it is no made-up match, no cradle
plighting between babes, to be made good, perhaps, by the breaking of
hearts, but a genuine, natural, mutual affection between two young,
sincere, innocent, artless persons--and a splendid couple they will
make. What can you see to alarm you in that prospect?"

"Her father."

"The Sieur d'Argenson! Well, I confess, he is not a very charming
person; but we all have our own faults or weaknesses; and, after all,
it is not he whom Raoul is about to marry."

"I doubt his good faith, very sorely."

"I should doubt it too, Marie, did I see any cause which should lead
him to break it. But the match is in all respects more desirable for
him than it is for us. For though Madem