affectionate words of Angela, the sweet and noble look which accompanied
them, rendered Croustillac prouder and happier than he would have been
at the most extravagant compliments. He felt, with a mixture of joy and
fear, so completely and hopelessly in love with the widow that had she
been poor and friendless he would have been truly and generously devoted
to her--the most unmistakable symptom of true love.

The astounding presumption of the chevalier deserted him. He understood
how ridiculous the part he had played must appear; and, as the property
of true sentiment is always to make us better, more intelligent and more
sensible, in spite of the chaos of contradictions which surrounded
Angela's conduct, the chevalier discerned that these appearances must
hide a grave mystery; he also said to himself that the intimacy of Blue
Beard with her lovers, as she called them, covered, without doubt,
another secret, and that this young woman was, as a consequence,
slandered in a most unjust manner. He said, further, that the apparent
ease with which Angela assumed a frightful cynicism before a stranger
was not without some very pressing reason. In consequence of this
rehabilitation of Blue Beard in the mind of Croustillac, she became in
his eyes, completely innocent of the murder of her three husbands.
Finally, the adventurer began to believe, so much had love metamorphosed
him, that the solitary inmate of Devil's Cliff wished to mock him; and
he proposed to clear up his suspicions that same night, when the widow
should tell him the price she placed upon her hand.

One thing embarrassed Croustillac--how could the widow have informed
herself of his life so completely? But he remembered, with some
exceptions, that he had not made any mystery of the greater part of the
antecedents of his life on board the Unicorn, and that the business
manager of Blue Beard's affairs at St. Pierre might have discussed the
passengers with Captain Daniel. Finally, with a wisdom and good sense
which did credit to the new feeling which animated him, Croustillac put
these two cases to himself: Either Blue Beard wished to amuse herself,
and that night would say to him frankly, "Sir, you have been an
impertinent meddler; blinded by vanity, urged on by cupidity, you have
made a wager that you would become my husband in a month's time; I have
wished to torment you a little, and to play the ferocious part
accredited to me; the buccaneer, the filibuster, an