ositively to profit by what she called the devil's carryall.
At Nantes, which boasted of more civilization than Guerande, Camille
was read and admired; she was thought to be the muse of Brittany and an
honor to the region. The absolution granted to her in Paris by society,
by fashion, was there justified by her great fortune and her early
successes in Nantes, which claimed the honor of having been, if not her
birthplace, at least her cradle. The viscountess, therefore, eager to
see her, dragged her old sister forward, paying no attention to her
jeremiads.

"Good-morning, Calyste," said Charlotte.

"Oh! good-morning, Charlotte," replied Calyste, not offering his arm.

Both were confused; she by his coldness, he by his cruelty, as they
walked up the sort of ravine, which is called in Saint-Nazaire a street,
following the two sisters in silence. In a moment the little girl of
sixteen saw her castle in Spain, built and furnished with romantic
hopes, a heap of ruins. She and Calyste had played together so much
in childhood, she was so bound up with him, as it were, that she had
quietly supposed her future unassailable; she arrived now, swept along
by thoughtless happiness, like a circling bird darting down upon a
wheat-field, and lo! she was stopped in her flight, unable to imagine
the obstacle.

"What is the matter, Calyste?" she said, taking his hand.

"Nothing," replied the young man, releasing himself with cruel haste as
he remembered the projects of his aunt and her friend.

Tears came into Charlotte's eyes. She looked at the handsome Calyste
without ill-humor; but a first spasm of jealousy seized her, and she
felt the dreadful madness of rivalry when she came in sight of the two
Parisian women, and suspected the cause of his coldness.

Charlotte de Kergarouet was a girl of ordinary height, and commonplace
coloring; she had a little round face, made lively by a pair of black
eyes which sparkled with cleverness, abundant brown hair, a round waist,
a flat back, thin arms, and the curt, decided manner of a provincial
girl, who did not want to be taken for a little goose. She was the
petted child of the family on account of the preference her aunt showed
for her. At this moment she was wrapped in a mantle of Scotch merino in
large plaids, lined with green silk, which she had worn on the boat. Her
travelling-dress, of some common stuff, chastely made with a chemisette
body and a pleated collar, was fated to appear, ev