I begged her to give me the letter on the spot, as there was no
time to be lost. She was good enough to go at once to her desk, where she
wrote as follows:

"My dear abbess--The young lady who will give you this letter is the same
of whom we have spoken. She wishes to spend three of four months under
your protection, to recover her peace of mind, to perform her devotions,
and to make sure that when she returns to her mother nothing more will be
said about the marriage, which is partly the cause of her temporary
separation from her family."

After reading it to me, she put it into my hands unsealed that Mdlle. X.
C. V. might be able to read it. The abbess in question was a princess,
and her convent was consequently a place above all suspicion. As Madame
du Rumain gave me the letter, I felt such an impulse of gratitude that I
fell on my knees before her. This generous woman was useful to me on
another occasion, of which I shall speak later on.

After leaving Madame du Rumain I went straight to the "Hotel de
Bretagne," where I saw Mdlle. X. C. V., who had only time to tell me that
she was engaged for the rest of the day, but that she would come to the
garret at eleven o'clock that night, and that then we could talk matters
over. I was overjoyed at this arrangement, as I foresaw that after this
would come the awakening from a happy dream, and that I should be alone
with her no more.

Before leaving the hotel I gave the word to Madelaine, who in turn got
the scullion to have everything in readiness.

I kept the appointment, and had not long to wait for my mistress. After
making her read the letter written by Madame du Rumain (whose name I
withheld from her without her taking offence thereat) I put out the
candle, and without troubling about the aroph, we set ourselves to the
pleasant task of proving that we truly loved each other.

In the morning, before we separated, I gave her all the instructions I
had received from Madame du Rumain; and we agreed that she should leave
the house at eight o'clock with such things as she absolutely required,
that she should take a coach to the Place Maubert, then send it away, and
take another to the Place Antoine, and again, farther on, a third coach,
in which she was to go to the convent named. I begged her not to forget
to burn all the letters she had received from me, and to write to me from
the convent as often as she could, to seal her letters but to leave the
address blank. She