er or incantation you have obtained such
prodigious influence over my betrothed; but I know that I love her, that
I have been loved by her more than four years, and that I will not stop
at any means of retaining and protecting her."

"Friend," answered Fougas, "you can brave me with impunity; my arm is
chained by gratitude. It shall never be written in history that Pierre
Fougas was an ingrate!"

"Would it have been more ungrateful in you to cut my throat, than to rob
me of my wife?"

"Oh, my benefactor! Learn to understand and pardon! God forbid that I
should marry Clementine in spite of you, in spite of herself. It is
through her consent and your own that I hope to win her. Realize that
she has been dear to me, not for four years, as to you, but for nearly
half a century. Reflect that I am alone on earth, and that her sweet
face is my only consolation. Will you, who have given me life, prevent
my spending it happily? Have you called me back to the world only to
deliver me over to despair?--Tiger! Take back, then, the life you gave
me, if you will not permit me to consecrate it to the adorable
Clementine!"

"Upon my soul, my dear fellow, you are superb! The habit of victory must
have totally twisted your wits. My hat is on your head:--keep it; so far
so good. But because my betrothed happens to remind you vaguely of a
girl in Nancy, must I give her up to you? I can't see it!"

"Friend, I will give you back your hat just as soon as you've bought me
another one; but do not ask me to give up Clementine. In the first
place, do you know that she will reject me?"

"I'm sure of it."

"She loves me."

"You're crazy!"

"You've seen her at my feet."

"What of that? It was from fear, from respect, from superstition, from
anything in the devil's name you choose to call it; but it was not from
love."

"We'll see about that pretty clearly, after six months of married life."

"But," cried Leon Renault, "have you the right to dispose of yourself?
There is another Clementine, the true one; she has sacrificed everything
for you; you are engaged, in honor, to her. Is Colonel Fougas deaf to
the voice of honor?"

"Are you mocking me? What! I marry a woman sixty-four years old?"

"You ought to; if not for her sake, at least for your child's."

"My child is a pretty big boy. He's forty-six years old; he has no
further need of my care."

"He does need your name, though."

"I'll adopt him."

"The law is opposed to it.