could thus have wormed himself into the confidence of an
old man and of a young girl! No one but a villainous blackguard could
have contemplated the abominable deceptions which you have planned
against me and against my daughter."

For a moment or two after the old man had finished speaking Victor de
Marmont remained silent. There were murmurs of indignation among the
guests, also of approval of the Comte's energetic words. De Marmont was
in the midst of a hostile crowd and he knew it. Here was no drawing-room
quarrel which could be settled at the point of a sword. Though--as Fate
and man so oft ordain it--a woman was the primary reason for the
quarrel, she was not its cause; and the hostility expressed against him
by every glance which de Marmont encountered was so general and so
great, that it overawed him even in the midst of his enthusiasm.

"M. le Comte," he said at last, and he made a great effort to appear
indifferent and unconcerned, "I wish for your daughter's sake that M.
de St. Genis had chosen some other time to make this fracas. We who have
learned chivalry at the Emperor's school would have hit our enemy when
he was in a position to defend himself. This, obviously, I cannot do at
this moment without trespassing still further upon your hospitality, and
causing Mlle. Crystal still more pain. I might even make a direct appeal
to her, since the decision in this matter rests, I imagine, primarily
with her, but with the Emperor at our gates, with the influence of his
power and of his pride dominating my every thought, I will with your
gracious permission relieve you of my unwelcome presence without taking
another leaf out of M. de St. Genis' book."

"As you will, Monsieur," said the Comte stiffly.

De Marmont bowed quite ceremoniously to him, and the Comte--courtly and
correct to the last--returned his salute with equal ceremony. Then the
young man turned to Crystal.

For the first time, perhaps, since the terrible fracas had begun, he
realised what it all must mean to her. She did not try to evade his
look, or to turn away from him. On the contrary she looked him straight
in the face, and watched him while he approached her, without retreating
one single step. But she watched him just as one would watch an abject
and revolting cur, that was too vile and too mean even to merit a kick.

Crystal's blue eyes were always expressive, but they had never been so
expressive as they were just then. De Marmont met h