eference with which
you honor your cousin?"

Madeleine replied, in a tremulous tone, "You do not know how deep a
wound you are probing, how heavy a grief you"--

"Why should it be a grief? What obstacle impedes your union?"

"An insurmountable obstacle,--one that exists in my own heart."

"How can that be, since that heart is his?"

"Those to whom I owe everything," replied Madeleine, "cherish the
anticipation that Maurice will make a brilliant marriage. Even if my
cousin looked upon me with partial eyes, could I rob my benefactors of
that dearest hope? Could I repay all their benefits to me by causing
them such a cruel disappointment? I could never be so ungrateful,--so
guilty,--so inhuman. Therefore, I say, the obstacle lies in my own
heart: that heart revolts at the very contemplation of such an act. I
pray you never to speak to me again on this subject; and give me your
word that no one shall ever know what I have just confided to you,--I
mean what you suspect--what you suspect, it may be, _erroneously!_"

"I promise you on the honor of a gentleman."

"Thank you."

A step was heard on the path leading to the summer-house.

Gaston looked towards the open door and said, "It is the count."

At the same moment he withdrew to the window.

Madeleine, who had risen, resumed her seat, and, as she plied her
needle, half buried her agitated face in the white drapery which lay in
her lap.

The count entered with downcast eyes, and flung himself into a chair.
He had not perceived that any one was present. Madeleine found it
difficult to command her voice, yet could not allow him to remain
unaware that he was not alone.

After a brief interval, she said, in a tolerably quiet tone, "I am
afraid you have not chosen a very comfortable seat. I told Baptiste to
remove that chair, for its legs are giving signs of the infirmities of
age."

At the sound of her voice the count glanced at her over his shoulder,
and said, brusquely, "What are you doing there?"

"Playing Penelope, as usual."

The count returned harshly, "Always absorbed in some feminine frippery,
just as if"--

"Just as if I were a woman!" answered Madeleine, forcing a laugh.

"A woman in your position should find some less frivolous employment."

Madeleine replied, in a tone of badinage that would have disarmed most
men, "How cruelly my cousin pretends to treat me! He actually makes
believe to scold me when I am occupied with the interests of his
f