and sorrowful manner, "you know why I returned, what my plans
were; what I would have placed upon the brow of madame. Ah, well, is it
not a frightful irony of fate that at this very moment a wife--a
criminal----"

"Your highness," cried De Chemerant, interrupting the Gascon, "at
present these projects must be a secret from madame."

"I know it; I know it! but then what a horrible surprise! I enter with a
heart beating with joy, into the home circle, into my peaceful home, and
what is it that I hear?"

"Your highness----"

"You have heard it as well as I. That is not all--what is it that I
see?"

"Your highness, calm yourself."

"You have seen, as I have, a mulatto outlaw. But this shall not stop
here, no, by St. George! Yes, I did well to call you. Now my anger
boils; the most cruel plans crowd in upon my imagination. Yes, yes, that
is it;" said Croustillac, with a meditative air. "I have it at last! I
have found a revenge fitting the offence!"

"Your highness, the contempt----"

"The contempt--that is very easy for you to say, sir, contempt. No, sir,
there remains another thing; I have found something better, and you
shall assist me."

"Your highness, anything that depends upon my zeal, without prejudice to
the orders which I have received, and the success of my mission."

"I renounce and cast off this unworthy woman. From this day, from this
moment, all is forever at an end between her and me."

"Thank God!" cried De Chemerant, delighted with this resolve; "you could
not act more wisely."

"To-morrow at daybreak," said the Gascon, in a curt tone, "she and her
odious accomplice will embark on board of one of my vessels."

CHAPTER XXVI.

DEVOTION.

"Yes, sir!" repeated the Gascon, "to-morrow my wife and this miserable
wretch shall go aboard one of my vessels. That is all my vengeance,"
continued he, dwelling on these words with savage irony. "Oh, I know
what I am doing. Yes, by heaven! She and her guilty accomplice, those
two, as if they were really husband and wife, the miserable wretches!
shall embark together. As to the destination of the vessel," said the
chevalier, with a glance of such horrible ferocity that De Chemerant was
struck by it, "as to the fate that awaits these guilty ones, I cannot
tell you, sir; that concerns no one but myself."

Then, taking Angela roughly by the arm, Croustillac exclaimed, "Ah, you
desire a mulatto for a lover, duchess? very well, you shall have him.
An