to be my
father--?"

[Illustration: GASTON ROSE HASTILY, AND MET D'ARGENSON WITH A LAW
OFFICER.--Page 514.]

"Believed!"

"Yes; I swear it, monsieur. Hearing his voice, feeling my hand pressed
by his, I had at first no doubt, and it almost needed evidence to bring
fear instead of the filial love with which he at first inspired me."

"I do not understand you, mademoiselle; how could you fear a man who--to
judge by what you tell me--had so much affection for you?"

"You do not understand, monsieur; as you say, under a frivolous pretext,
I was removed from Rambouillet to Paris, shut in a house in the Faubourg
Saint Antoine, which spoke more clearly to my eyes than Gaston's fears
had done. Then I thought myself lost--and that this feigned tenderness
of a father concealed the wiles of a seducer. I had no friend but
Gaston--I wrote to him--he came."

"Then," said the regent, filled with joy, "when you left that house it
was to escape those wiles, not to follow your lover?"

"Oh, monsieur, if I had believed in that father whom I had seen but
once, and then surrounded by mysteries, I swear to you that nothing
would have led me from the path of duty."

"Oh, dear child!" cried the duke, with an accent which made Helene
start.

"Then Gaston spoke to me of a person who could refuse him nothing--who
would watch over me and be a father to me. He brought me here, saying he
would return to me. I waited in vain for more than an hour, and at
length, fearing some accident had happened to him, I asked for you." The
regent's brow became clouded.

"Thus," said he, "it was Gaston's influence that turned you from your
duty--his fears aroused yours?"

"Yes; he suspected the mystery which encircled me, and feared that it
concealed some fatal project."

"But he must have given you some proof to persuade you."

"What proof was needed in that abominable house? Would a father have
placed his daughter in such a habitation?"

"Yes, yes," murmured the regent, "he was wrong; but confess that without
the chevalier's suggestions, you, in the innocence of your soul, would
have had no suspicion."

"No," said Helene, "but happily Gaston watched over me."

"Do you then believe that all Gaston said to you was true?" asked the
regent.

"We easily side with those we love, monsieur."

"And you love the chevalier?"

"Yes; for the last two years, monsieur."

"But how could he see you in the convent?"

"By night, with the aid of a boat.