per, and threw herself down, exhausted, upon a
lounge.

She was almost fainting.

"This must be something like death! Oh, if it were only death!" she
sighed, as she closed her eyes.

An hour later she was found here by the Duke of Hereward, who showed no
surprise at finding her reclining there, but only said that Doctor
Velpeau was below stairs and would like to see her.

"Let him come up, then," coldly answered Valerie.

And the duke himself went to conduct the physician to his patient.

He left them together for an hour, at the end of which Doctor Velpeau
came down and reported to the anxious husband that his wife was not
seriously out of health that her malady was more of the mind than the
body, and that amusement and society would be her best medicines.

"Just what I cannot prevail on her to take," said the duke, with an
impatient shrug. "She will go nowhere, will see nobody; but shuts herself
up and mopes. Now, to-day, I have received intelligence concerning the
rather intricately embarrassed affairs of the late Baron de la Motte,
which will oblige me to start for Algiers, for a personal interview with
his heir-at-law, an officer in the Chasseurs d'Afrique, who cannot get
leave of absence to come to me. Now the question is, Doctor, shall I take
the duchess with me, or leave her here? Is she well enough to be left, or
strong enough to travel?"

"Both! She is both. I assure you she is not at all ill in body. Put the
question to herself. If she should be willing to go, take her. The trip
will do her good. If she prefers to stay, leave her. She is in no danger
of illness or death."

"But I should be gone, probably, a fortnight. Could I, with safety to
herself, take her so far away, for so long a time, from the best medical
advice? or could I, on the other hand, leave her here for so distant a
bourne and so long an absence?"

"With perfect safety; barring, of course, the human possibilities to
which even the most fortunate, the most healthful and the best-guarded
among us are more or less subject. But again I counsel you to leave it to
the duchess, whether she shall remain here or accompany you to Algiers.
She is equally fit for either plan," said the great physician, as he drew
on his gloves.

"I will take the duchess with me, if she will go. If not, I will leave
here under your charge, Doctor," said the duke.

"Much honored, I am sure, in attending her grace," replied the French
physician, with the extr