promise
never to address a word to you which a son might not utter to his
mother. Is it not this which you demand?"

Madame de Tecle fixed upon him for an instant her beautiful eyes, full
of joy and gratitude, then suddenly covered her face with her two hands.

"I thank you!" she murmured, "I am very happy!" She extended her hand,
wet with her tears, which he took and pressed to his lips, bowed low,
and left the room.

If there ever was a moment in his fatal career when the young man was
really worthy of admiration, it was this. His love for Madame de Tecle,
however unworthy of her it might be, was nevertheless great. It was the
only true passion he had ever felt. At the moment when he saw this love,
the triumph of which he thought certain, escape him forever, he was not
only wounded in his pride but was crushed in his heart.

Yet he took the stroke like a gentleman. His agony was well borne. His
first bitter words, checked at once, alone betrayed what he suffered.

He was as pitiless for his own sorrows as he sought to be for those
of others. He indulged in none of the common injustice habitual to
discarded lovers.

He recognized the decision of Madame de Tecle as true and final, and
was not tempted for a moment to mistake it for one of those equivocal
arrangements by which women sometimes deceive themselves, and of which
men always take advantage. He realized that the refuge she had sought
was inviolable. He neither argued nor protested against her resolve. He
submitted to it, and nobly kissed the noble hand which smote him. As to
the miracle of courage, chastity, and faith by which Madame de Tecle had
transformed and purified her love, he cared not to dwell upon it. This
example, which opened to his view a divine soul, naked, so to speak,
destroyed his theories. One word which escaped him, while passing to
his own house, proved the judgment which he passed upon it, from his own
point of view. "Very childish," he muttered, "but sublime!"

On returning home Camors found a letter from General Campvallon,
notifying him that his marriage with Mademoiselle d'Estrelles would take
place in a few days, and inviting him to be present. The marriage was to
be strictly private, with only the family to assist at it.

Camors did not regret this invitation, as it gave him the excuse for
some diversion in his thoughts, of which he felt the need. He was
greatly tempted to go away at once to diminish his sufferings, but
conqu