suggest the marriage to the ambassador; and Caesar's
daughter ought to be above suspicion, even more than his wife--if that
were possible."

The Duchesse de Maufrigneuse and Mme. d'Espard shot glances first at
my mother, then at the Baron, brimming over with sly intelligence and
repressed curiosity. With their serpent's cunning they had at last got
an inkling of something going on. Of all mysteries in life, love is the
least mysterious! It exhales from women, I believe, like a perfume, and
she who can conceal it is a very monster! Our eyes prattle even more
than our tongues.

Having enjoyed the delightful sensation of finding Felipe rise to the
occasion, as I had wished, it was only in nature I should hunger for
more. So I made the signal agreed on for telling him that he might come
to my window by the dangerous road you know of. A few hours later I
found him, upright as a statue, glued to the wall, his hand resting on
the balcony of my window, studying the reflections of the light in my
room.

"My dear Felipe," I said, "You have acquitted yourself well to-night;
you behaved exactly as I should have done had I been told that you were
on the point of marrying."

"I thought," he replied, "that you would hardly have told others before
me."

"And what right have you to this privilege?"

"The right of one who is your devoted slave."

"In very truth?"

"I am, and shall ever remain so."

"But suppose this marriage was inevitable; suppose that I had agreed..."

Two flashing glances lit up the moonlight--one directed to me, the other
to the precipice which the wall made for us. He seemed to calculate
whether a fall together would mean death; but the thought merely passed
like lightning over his face and sparkled in his eyes. A power, stronger
than passion, checked the impulse.

"An Arab cannot take back his word," he said in a husky voice. "I am
your slave to do with as you will; my life is not mine to destroy."

The hand on the balcony seemed as though its hold were relaxing. I
placed mine on it as I said:

"Felipe, my beloved, from this moment I am your wife in thought and
will. Go in the morning to ask my father for my hand. He wishes to
retain my fortune; but if you promise to acknowledge receipt of it in
the contract, his consent will no doubt be given. I am no longer Armande
de Chaulieu. Leave me at once; no breath of scandal must touch Louise de
Macumer."

He listened with blanched face and trembling li