eciprocal feeling for her? With a man
as mysterious as my cousin, it is not easy to find out what is going on
in his heart. Anyhow, I have no right to complain of him; as soon as
he discovered my love for Reine, did he not, besides ignoring his own
claim, offer spontaneously to take my message? Still, there is something
queer at the bottom of it all, and whatever it costs me, I am going to
find it out."

At this moment, through the misty air, he heard faintly the village
clock strike eleven. "Already so late! how the time flies, even when one
is suffering!" He bent his course toward the chateau, and, breathless
and excited, without replying to Manette's inquiries, he burst into the
hall where his cousin was pacing up and down, waiting for breakfast.
At this sudden intrusion Julien started, and noted Claudet's quick
breathing and disordered state.

"Ho, ho!" exclaimed he, in his usual, sarcastic tone, "what a hurry
you are in! I suppose you have come to say the wedding-day is fixed at
last?"

"No!" replied Claudet, briefly, "there will be no wedding."

Julien tottered, and turned to face his cousin.

"What's that? Are you joking?"

"I am in no mood for joking. Reine will not have me; she has taken back
her promise."

While pronouncing these words, he scrutinized attentively his cousin's
countenance, full in the light from the opposite window. He saw his
features relax, and his eyes glow with the same expression which he had
noticed a few days previous, when he had referred to the fact that Reine
had again postponed the marriage.

"Whence comes this singular change?" stammered de Buxieres, visibly
agitated; "what reasons does Mademoiselle Vincart give in explanation?"

"Idle words: her father's health, disinclination to leave him. You may
suppose I take such excuses for what they are worth. The real cause of
her refusal is more serious and more mortifying."

"You know it, then?" exclaimed Julien, eagerly.

"I know it, because I forced Reine to confess it."

"And the reason is?"

"That she does not love me."

"Reine--does not love you!"

Again a gleam of light irradiated the young man's large, blue eyes.
Claudet was leaning against the table, in front of his cousin; he
continued slowly, looking him steadily in the face:

"That is not all. Not only does Reine not love me, but she loves some
one else."

Julien changed color; the blood coursed over his cheeks, his forehead,
his ears; he drooped his head