you here," humbly returned the lady, bending her head.

"Thanks, madam."

"It is a sad event which has brought you under our roof, monseigneur."

"A very sad one, madam."

"And yet, for your sake, a very fortunate one."

"May I be permitted to ask you, madam, in what way this misfortune can be
fortunate?"

"I had supposed that you already knew that, monseigneur."

"Perhaps I do. I am not sure. I do not clearly comprehend, madam. Will
madam deign to make her meaning plainer?"

"Yes, monseigneur, and you will pardon me if I enter too abruptly upon
a subject at once painful and delicate."

The abbess paused, and the duke inclined his head in the attitude of an
attentive listener.

"The young Duchess of Hereward, monseigneur?" said the abbess, in a low
voice.

The duke started very slightly, but his pale face flushed crimson.

"Pardon, monseigneur. I am the more deeply interested in the young lady,
for that she passed her infancy, childhood and youth--being nearly the
whole of her short life, indeed, under this roof--where I stood in the
position of a mother to her orphanage."

"I knew, madam, that the motherless heiress was educated here," replied
the duke, by way of saying something.

"You will, therefore, understand the interest I take in Madame la
Duchesse, and forgive my question when I ask: Have you heard from her
grace since she left her home?"

"You knew that she had left her home, then?" exclaimed the duke, in
painful astonishment.

The abbess bowed assent.

"I hoped and believed that no one knew of her flight except the members
of our own household, and the single confidential agent I employed to
find her, and on whose discretion I could implicitly rely," said the
duke, in a tone of extreme mortification and sorrow.

"Be tranquil, monseigneur, no one does know of it out of the circle of
her own devoted friends, who can never misinterpret it."

"You know something of the duchess' movements, then? You know, perhaps,
the cause of her flight--the place of her residence? You know--ah, madam,
tell me _what_ you know, I beseech you!" implored the duke.

"I know the cause of her flight, and justify her action even though she
acted under a false impression. I know the place of her residence, and
will tell it to you after you shall have answered one or two questions
that I shall put to you. First then, monseigneur, when did you last hear
of the duchess?"

"Some few weeks after her flight, I recei