hatever to go
out at all. I was satisfied with Madame d'Albret's company, and had no
wish to leave her. I may say that I was truly happy, and my countenance
was radiant, and proved that I was so. My thoughts would occasionally
revert to my father and my brother Auguste, and make me melancholy for
the time, but I felt that all was for the best, and I built castles, in
which I imagined my suddenly breaking in upon them, throwing myself in
my father's arms, and requesting him to share the wealth and luxury with
which I fancied myself to be endowed.

I was now nearly eighteen years old. I had been one year under the
protection of Madame d'Albret, and the old dowagers who visited us at
the chateau were incessantly pointing out to Madame d'Albret that it was
time to look out for an establishment for me. Madame d'Albret was, to a
certain degree, of their opinion, but she did not wish to part with me,
and I was resolute in my determination not to leave her. I had no wish
to be married; I had reflected much upon the subject; the few married
lives I had witnessed were not to my taste. I had seen my kind-hearted
amiable grandmother thwarted by a penurious husband; I had witnessed my
father under the control of a revengeful woman; and when I beheld, as I
did every day, the peace and happiness in the establishment of Madame
d'Albret as a single woman, I felt certain that marriage was a lottery
in which there were thousands of blanks to one prize. When, therefore,
any of Madame d'Albret's acquaintances brought up the subject, when they
left the room I earnestly implored Madame d'Albret not to be influenced
by their remarks, as I had made up my mind to remain single, and that
all I asked was to remain with her and prove my gratitude.

"I believe you, Valerie," replied Madame d'Albret, "but I should not be
doing my duty if I permitted you to act upon your own feelings. A girl
like you was not intended by Heaven to pine away in celibacy, but to
adorn the station in life in which she is placed. At the same time, I
will not press the matter, but if an advantageous offer were to be made,
I shall then consider it my duty to exert my influence with you to make
you change your mind, but, at the same time, I will never use anything
more than persuasion. I am too happy with you as a companion to wish to
part with you, but, at the same time, I should be very selfish if I did
not give you up when your own interest told me that such was