e," she said. "Beatrix, those
words of yours must separate us forever; we are no longer friends. Here
begins a terrible conflict between us. I tell you now; you will either
succumb or fly."

So saying, Camille bounded into her room, after showing her face, which
was that of a maddened lioness, to the astonished Beatrix. Then she
raised the portiere and looked in again.

"Do you intend to go to Croisic to-morrow," she asked.

"Certainly," replied the marquise, proudly. "I shall not fly, and I
shall not succumb."

"I play above board," replied Camille; "I shall write to Conti."

Beatrix became as white as the gauze of her scarf.

"We are staking our lives on this game," she replied, not knowing what
to say or do.

The violent passions roused by this scene between the two women calmed
down during the night. Both argued with their own minds and returned to
those treacherously temporizing courses which are so attractive to
the majority of women,--an excellent system between men and women, but
fatally unsafe among women alone. In the midst of this tumult of their
souls Mademoiselle des Touches had listened to that great Voice whose
counsels subdue the strongest will; Beatrix heard only the promptings of
worldly wisdom; she feared the contempt of society.

Thus Felicite's last deception succeeded; Calyste's blunder was
repaired, but a fresh indiscretion might be fatal to him.

XIV. AN EXCURSION TO CROISIC

It was now the end of August, and the sky was magnificently clear. Near
the horizon the sea had taken, as it is wont to do in southern climes, a
tint of molten silver; on the shore it rippled in tiny waves. A sort of
glowing vapor, an effect of the rays of the sun falling plumb upon the
sands, produced an atmosphere like that of the tropics. The salt shone
up like bunches of white violets on the surface of the marsh. The
patient _paludiers_, dressed in white to resist the action of the sun,
had been from early morning at their posts, armed with long rakes. Some
were leaning on the low mud-walls that divided the different holdings,
whence they watched the process of this natural chemistry, known to them
from childhood. Others were playing with their wives and children. Those
green dragons, otherwise called custom-house officers, were tranquilly
smoking their pipes.

There was something foreign, perhaps oriental, about the scene; at any
rate a Parisian suddenly transported thither would never have supposed