know who I was--I can't
say am, because my family have never forgiven me the mesalliance;
therefore, I say, was it not atrocious in him to make a settlement which
he felt must be a mockery?"

"Perhaps, madame, he may have regarded our pretensions as of little
moment; indeed, I believe he treated my father's demands with much
hauteur."

"Still, he knew there was a claim, and a claimant, when he married
_me_, and this can neither be denied nor defended."

"Ah, madame!" sighed he, "who would be stopped by scruples in such a
cause?"

"No, there was nothing of love in it; he wanted rank, he wanted high
connections. He was fond of me, after his fashion, I 've no doubt,
but he was far more proud than fond. I often fancied he must have
had something on his mind, he would be so abstracted at times, and so
depressed, and then he would seem as if he wanted to tell me a secret,
but had not the courage for it, and I set it down to something quite
different. I thought--no matter what I thought--but it gave me no
uneasiness, for, of course, I never dreamed of being jealous; but that
it should be so bad as this never occurred to me--never!"

"I am only surprised that Colonel Bramleigh never thought it worth his
while to treat with my father, who, all things considered, would have
been easily dealt with; he was always _pauvre diable_, out of one scrape
to fall into another; so reckless that the very smallest help ever
seemed to him quite sufficient to brave life with."

"I know nothing of the story; tell it to me."

"It is very long, very tiresome, and incumbered with details of dates
and eras. I doubt you 'd have patience for it; but if you think you
would, I 'm ready."

"Begin, then; only don't make it more confused or more tangled than you
can help, and give me no dates--I hate dates."

Pracontal was silent for a moment or two, as if reflecting; and then,
drawing his chair a little nearer to her sofa, he leaned his forehead on
his hand, and in a low, but distinct voice, began:--

"When Colonel Bramleigh's father was yet a young man, a matter of
business required his presence in Ireland. He came to see a very
splendid mansion then being built by a rich nobleman, on which his house
had advanced a large sum by way of mortgage."

"Mon cher M. Pracontal, must we begin so far back? It is like the
Plaideur in Moliere, who commences, 'Quand je vois le soleil, quand je
vois la lune--'"

"Very true; but I must begin at the beg