ry great. It should not be
encountered if there is any possibility of his remaining here for the
present."

He looked questioningly toward the mistress of the house.

Madeleine promptly replied, "These apartments are entirely at the
service of Count Tristan and his family, if they will honor me by
occupying them."

"That is well," returned the doctor. "Let the count remain undisturbed
until he is convalescent. I will see him again in the evening."

Dr. Bayard took his leave, and Maurice turned to Madeleine,--

"This is most unfortunate. It is a great burden to be thrown upon you,
Madeleine."

She interrupted him quickly. "You could hardly have spoken words less
kind, Maurice. If this shock could not have been spared your father, I
am thankful that it fell beneath my roof. He will be more quiet here
than in a hotel, and can be better tended. If the countess will permit
me, I will gladly constitute myself his chief _garde malade_. I have had
some experience"--

That inadvertent remark increased the agitation of Maurice, and he
answered, in a voice tremulous from the rush of sad recollections, "Who
can testify to that better than _I_? Do you think I have forgotten the
good _soeur de bon secours_ whose movements I used to watch, and whose
features, dimly traced by the feeble light of the _veilleuse_, I never
ceased to gaze upon, as she moved about my bed?"

Madeleine smiled and sighed at the same moment, and then remarked,
perhaps to turn the conversation,--

"But your grandmother,--I fear it will be very difficult to obtain her
consent to Count Tristan's remaining under my roof."

"She cannot desire to risk my father's life!" returned Maurice, somewhat
angrily. "I may as well tell her what is decided upon, at once."

Madeleine detained him.

"First let me explain to you the arrangements I propose making. If the
countess will condescend to remain here, I will have the drawing-room,
which opens into the room Count Tristan occupies, made into a
bed-chamber for her. The apartment beyond is the dining-room. This
little boudoir can be converted into a chamber for you. There is an
apartment upstairs which I will occupy; and, as Bertha cannot remain at
the hotel alone, I shall be truly happy if she will share my room, or
that of the countess."

"Yours! yours!" exclaimed Bertha. "Oh, what a pleasant arrangement! And
how quickly and admirably you have settled everything, just as you
always used to do; and nobody cou