My poor mother, did he leave you?'

"'No, no! Do not blame him; it was not his fault that he had to leave
us.'

"'He is in prison, then; but surely he is innocent?'

"'No, he is quite free.'

"'How is it, then----"

"'Listen, but do not interrupt me, for I have not strength for much. The
name you have, Gauthier, was my father's and mine, but not your
father's, Nicolas. My father was a wealthy shipbuilder at Havre. He
died in 1825. My mother sold everything, and then she and I went to
Paris to live.

"'She was ambitious for me and wished me to marry well. We had plenty of
money, and as that opens most doors she managed to get introductions and
invitations to her heart's content.

"'I was nineteen, and people said I was beautiful. My mother paid great
attention to my toilette, and by mixing in society I soon lost all
traces of having been brought up in the provinces. There was a young
Russian captain, Prince Nicolai Porthikopoff, whom I used to meet at
different houses. He belonged to the Czar's Imperial Guard, and was an
_attache_ of the Russian Embassy in Paris.

"'He was very handsome, and was as noble at heart as he was by birth.

"He loved me, and I returned his affection. At the end of six months he
came to my mother and asked for my hand. Our engagement caused a great
stir in Paris, it scandalized the aristocracy and caused jealousy in our
own circle. Prince Nicolai cared nothing for the storm that he had
roused.

[Illustration: "HE CAME TO MY MOTHER AND ASKED FOR MY HAND."]

"'There was so much gossip, and there was so much scheming to break off
our engagement, that the Ambassador himself felt it his duty to inform
the Czar. It appears the Czar only laughed at it all until the Princess
Porthikopoff, your father's mother, wrote herself asking for his
intervention, and declaring that she would never give her consent to our
union. The Czar wrote a letter of advice to the Prince, but as it took
no effect, and the Princess still insisted, the Czar objected formally
to the marriage. Your father saw that it was hopeless, that there was no
chance whatever of winning the consent of his mother or of his
Sovereign. He proposed to me a desperate expedient, and I, young and
inexperienced as I was, and believing that it would be for our mutual
happiness, consented.

"'We were to be married privately, but, as your father told me, the
marriage would not be legal, as we could not have the necessary papers,
and shou