go in day costumes. As for him,
he can wear a blouse if he pleases! Don't suppose that I am going to
turn our life into an amorous duel and wear myself out in devices for
feeding passion; all that I want is to have a conscience free from
reproach. Thirteen years still lie before me as a pretty woman, and I
am determined to be loved on the last day of the thirteenth even more
fondly than on the morrow of our mysterious nuptials. This time no
cutting words shall mar my lowly, grateful content. I will take the part
of servant, since that of mistress throve so ill with me before.

Ah! Renee, if Gaston has sounded, as I have, the heights and depths of
love, my happiness is assured! Nature at the chalet wears her fairest
face. The woods are charming; each step opens up to you some fresh
vista of cool greenery, which delights the soul by the sweet thoughts it
wakens. They breathe of love. If only this be not the gorgeous theatre
dressed by my hand for my own martyrdom!

In two days from now I shall be Mme. Gaston. My God! is it fitting a
Christian so to love mortal man?

"Well, at least you have the law with you," was the comment of my man
of business, who is to be one of my witnesses, and who exclaimed, on
discovering why my property was to be realized, "I am losing a client!"

And you, my sweetheart (whom I dare no longer call my loved one), may
you not cry, "I am losing a sister?"

My sweet, address when you write in future to Mme. Gaston, Poste
Restante, Versailles. We shall send there every day for letters. I don't
want to be known to the country people, and we shall get our provisions
from Paris. In this way I hope we may guard the secret of our lives.
Nobody has been seen in the place during the years spent in preparing
our retreat; and the purchase was made in the troubled period which
followed the revolution of July. The only person who has shown himself
here is the architect; he alone is known, and he will not return.

Farewell. As I write this word, I know not whether my heart is fuller
of grief or joy. That proves, does it not, that the pain of losing you
equals my love for Gaston?

XLIX. MARIE GASTON TO DANIEL D'ARTHEZ October 1833.

My Dear Daniel,--I need two witnesses for my marriage. I beg of you to
come to-morrow evening for this purpose, bringing with you our worthy
and honored friend, Joseph Bridau. She who is to be my wife, with an
instinctive divination of my dearest wishes, has declared he