er, Clementine
scarcely knew that she was alone. She loved and felt that she was loved
in return; she had faith in the future, and an inner life of tenderness
and timid hope; and this noble and gentle heart required nothing more.

But what completely astonished her betrothed, her aunt and herself, and
strangely subverted all the best accredited theories respecting the
feminine heart,--what, indeed, reason would have refused to credit had
it not been established by facts, was that the day when she again met
the husband of her choice, an hour after she had thrown herself into
Leon's arms with a grace so full of trust, Clementine was so abruptly
invaded by a new sentiment which was not love, nor friendship, nor fear,
but transcended them all and spoke with master tones in her heart.

From the instant when Leon had shown her the figure of the Colonel, she
had been seized by an actual passion for this nameless mummy. It was
nothing like what she felt towards young Renault, but it was a
combination of interest, compassion and respectful sympathy.

If any one had recounted some famous feat of arms, or some romantic
history of which the Colonel had been the hero, this impression would
have been natural, or, at least, explicable. But she knew nothing of him
except that he had been condemned as a spy by a council of war, and yet
she dreamed of him the very night after Leon's return.

This inexplicable prepossession at first manifested itself in a
religious form. She caused a mass to be said for the repose of the
Colonel's soul, and urged Leon to make preparations for the funeral,
herself selecting the ground in which he was to be interred. These
various cares never caused her to omit her daily visit to the walnut
box, or the respectful bending of the knee before the body, or the
sisterly or filial kiss which she regularly placed upon its forehead.
The Renault family soon became uneasy about such strange symptoms, and
hastened the interment of the attractive unknown, in order to relieve
themselves of him as soon as possible. But the day before the one fixed
for the ceremony, Clementine changed her mind.

"By what right could they shut in the tomb a man who, possibly, was not
dead? The theories of the learned Doctor Meiser were not such that one
could reject them without examination. The matter was at least worthy of
a few days' reflection. Was it not possible to submit the Colonel's body
to some experiments? Professor Hirtz, o