private interview with the baron,
which was promptly and politely accorded.

The duke then and there made known to the baron the state of his
affections, and formally solicited the hand of Mademoiselle Valerie
de la Motte in marriage.

The "mad duke" was not then mad; he had not squandered his princely
fortune; his dukedom was one of the wealthiest as well as one of the
oldest in the United Kingdom; the marriage he offered the baron's
daughter was one of the most brilliant (under royalty) in Europe.

The baron did not hesitate a moment, but promptly accepted the proposals
of the duke in behalf of his daughter.

The Duke of Hereward hurried away, the happiest man in Europe.

The Baron de la Motte went and informed his daughter that she must
prepare to receive the middle-aged suitor as her future husband.

Now, Valerie, in a languid way, liked the Duke of Hereward better than
any one else in the whole world except her mother, but she did not like
him in the character of a husband. The idea of marriage even with him was
abhorrent to her. In her first surprise and dismay at the announcement of
the duke's proposal for her hand, and her father's acceptance of that
proposal, she betrayed all the unconquerable antipathy she felt to the
contemplated marriage; but in vain she wept and pleaded to be left in
peace; to be left to die; to be sent to a convent; to be disposed of in
any way rather than in marriage!

The baron was no longer a tender and compassionate father, but a ruthless
and implacable tyrant.

Valerie's life had been a purgatory before, it was a hell now. She was
covered with reproach, contumely and threats by her father; she was
lectured and mourned over by her mother; and when her mother at length
took sides with her father, in urging her to this marriage, the very
ground seemed to have slidden from beneath her feet; she had not a friend
in the world to whom to turn in her distress.

Meanwhile the Duke of Hereward was impatiently awaiting the promised
summons to the Hotel de la Motte to meet Mademoiselle Valerie as his
future wife.

Valerie believed that her young lover-husband had been slain in the duel
with her father; and that she was free to bestow her hand, if she could
not give her broken heart; she was worn out with the ignominious
reproaches heaped upon her by her father; by the tears and sighs lavished
upon her by her mother; by all the humiliation and degradations of her
daily life, and by th