society men situated as you are do
not marry early, and I think they are right. Well, then, this is what
I wish to do, if you will allow me to tell you. I wish to blend in
one affection the two strongest sentiments of my heart! I wish to
concentrate all my care, all my tenderness, all my joy on forming a
wife worthy of you--a young soul who will make you happy, a cultivated
intellect of which you can be proud. I will promise you, Monsieur,
I will swear to you, to consecrate to you this sweet duty, and to
consecrate to it all that is best in myself. I shall devote to it all my
time, every instant of my life, as to the holy work of a saint. I swear
to you that I shall be very happy if you will only tell me that you will
consent to this."

His answer was an impatient exclamation of irony and anger: then he
spoke:

"You will pardon me, Madame," he said, "if so sudden a change in my
sentiments can not be as prompt as you wish."

She blushed slightly.

"Yes," she said, with a faint smile; "I can understand that the idea of
my being your mother-in-law may seem strange to you; but in some years,
even in a very few years' time, I shall be an old woman, and then it
will seem to you very natural."

To consummate her mournful sacrifice, the poor woman did not shrink from
covering herself, even in the presence of the man she loved, with the
mantle of old age.

The soul of Camors was perverted, but not base, and it was suddenly
touched at this simple heroism. He rendered it the greatest homage he
could pay, for his eyes suddenly filled with tears. She observed it, for
she watched with an anxious eye the slightest impression she produced
upon him. So she continued more cheerfully:

"And see, Monsieur, how this will settle everything. In this way we can
continue to see each other without danger, because your little affianced
wife will be always between us. Our sentiments will soon be in harmony
with our new thoughts. Even your future prospects, which are now also
mine, will encounter fewer obstacles, because I shall push them more
openly, without revealing to my uncle what ought to remain a secret
between us two. I can let him suspect my hopes, and that will enlist
him in your service. Above all, I repeat to you that this will insure my
happiness. Will you thus accept my maternal affection?"

M. de Camors, by a powerful effort of will, had recovered his
self-control.

"Pardon me, Madame," he said, with a faint smile, "but I