riend, accept our help, rise in life, make your way and your
fortune and you shall know my hope. And," she added, as if she were
whispering a secret, "never release the hand you are holding at this
moment."

She bent to my ear as she said these words which proved her deep
solicitude for my future.

"Madeleine!" I exclaimed "never!"

We were close to a wooden gate which opened into the park of Frapesle;
I still seem to see its ruined posts overgrown with climbing plants and
briers and mosses. Suddenly an idea, that of the count's death, flashed
through my brain, and I said, "I understand you."

"I am glad of it," she answered in a tone which made me know I had
supposed her capable of a thought that could never be hers.

Her purity drew tears of admiration from my eyes which the selfishness
of passion made bitter indeed. My mind reacted and I felt that she did
not love me enough even to wish for liberty. So long as love recoils
from a crime it seems to have its limits, and love should be infinite. A
spasm shook my heart.

"She does not love me," I thought.

To hide what was in my soul I stooped over Madeleine and kissed her
hair.

"I am afraid of your mother," I said to the countess presently, to renew
the conversation.

"So am I," she answered with a gesture full of childlike gaiety. "Don't
forget to call her Madame la duchesse, and to speak to her in the third
person. The young people of the present day have lost these polite
manners; you must learn them; do that for my sake. Besides, it is such
good taste to respect women, no matter what their age may be, and to
recognize social distinctions without disputing them. The respect shown
to established superiority is guarantee for that which is due to you.
Solidarity is the basis of society. Cardinal Della Rovere and Raffaelle
were two powers equally revered. You have sucked the milk of the
Revolution in your academy and your political ideas may be influenced by
it; but as you advance in life you will find that crude and ill-defined
principles of liberty are powerless to create the happiness of the
people. Before considering, as a Lenoncourt, what an aristocracy ought
to be, my common-sense as a woman of the people tells me that societies
can exist only through a hierarchy. You are now at a turning-point in
your life, when you must choose wisely. Be on our side,--especially
now," she added, laughing, "when it triumphs."

I was keenly touched by these words, in