eks, her eyes
shone, the youthfulness of her soul changed the light wrinkles into
gracious lines, and all about her solicited affection. Godefroid in
that one moment measured the gulf that separated this woman from common
sentiments. He saw her inaccessible on a peak to which religion had led
her; and he was still too worldly not to be keenly piqued, and to long
to plunge through the gulf and up to the summit on which she stood, and
stand beside her. Giving himself up to this desire, he related to
her all the mistakes of his life, and much that he could not tell
at Mongenod's, where his confidences had been confined to his actual
situation.

"Poor child!"

That exclamation, falling now and then from Madame de la Chanterie's
lips as he went on, dropped like balm upon the heart of the sufferer.

"What can I substitute for so many hopes betrayed, so much affection
wasted?" he asked, looking at his hostess, who had now grown thoughtful.
"I came here," he resumed, "to reflect and choose a course of action. I
have lost my mother; will you replace her?"

"Will you," she said, "show a son's obedience?"

"Yes, if you will have the tenderness that commands it."

"I will try," she said.

Godefroid put out his hand to take that of his hostess, who gave it to
him, guessing his intentions. He carried it respectfully to his lips.
Madame de la Chanterie's hand was exquisitely beautiful,--without a
wrinkle; neither fat nor thin; white enough to be the envy of all young
women, and shapely enough for the model of a sculptor. Godefroid had
already admired those hands, conscious of their harmony with the spell
of her voice, and the celestial blue of her glance.

"Wait a moment," said Madame de la Chanterie, rising and going into her
own room.

Godefroid was keenly excited; he did not know to what class of ideas her
movement was to be attributed. His perplexity did not last long, for she
presently returned with a book in her hand.

"Here, my dear child," she said, "are the prescriptions of a great
physician of souls. When the things of ordinary life have not given
us the happiness we expected of them, we must seek for happiness in a
higher life. Here is the key of a new world. Read night and morning a
chapter of this book; but bring your full attention to bear upon what
you read; study the words as you would a foreign language. At the end of
a month you will be another man. It is now twenty years that I have read
a chapter every