was to please him and make him happy with her
friendship, he was afraid to hold her in his arms lest he might be
tempted to tell her how full his heart was with love for her. She
excused herself to Paul de Lavardens so that she might give his dance to
Jean, but Jean declined the favour on the plea that he was not feeling
well, and, to save himself, he hastened off without even shaking her
hand.

But all this only told his secret the more clearly to the heart that
loved him.

"I love him, dear Susie," said Bettina that night, "and I know that he
loves me for myself; not for the money I possess."

"You are sure, my dear?"

"Yes; for he will not speak; he tries to avoid me. My horrid money,
which attracts others to me, is the thing that keeps him from declaring
his love."

"Be very sure, my dear, for you know you might have been a marchioness
or a princess if you had wished. You are sure you will not mind being
plain Madame Reynaud?"

"Absolutely; for I love him!"

"Now let me make a proposal," Bettina went on. "Jean is going away
to-morrow; I shall not see him for three weeks, and that will be time to
know my own mind. In three weeks may I go and ask him myself if he will
have me for his wife? Tell me, Susie, may I?"

Of course her sister could but consent, and Bettina was happy.

Next morning she had a wild desire to wave Jean a good-bye. In the
pouring rain she made her way through the woods to the terrace by the
road, her dress torn by the thorns, and her umbrella lost, to wave to
him as he passed, saying to herself that this would show him how dear he
was in her thoughts.

Mr. Scott had come from Paris before Jean was back, and he, too,
approved of Bettina's plan, for they wished her to marry only one she
truly loved. But when the lieutenant came back with his regiment, he had
made up his mind to avoid meeting Bettina, and had even decided to
exchange into another regiment. He refused an invitation to the chateau,
but the good abbe begged of him not to leave the district.

"Wait a little, until the good God calls me. Do not go now."

Jean urged that honour made it clear to him he should go away. The abbe
told him that he was quite sure Bettina's heart was all for him as truly
as he believed Jean's love was all for her. Her money, Jean confessed,
was the great drawback, as it might make others think lightly of his
love for her. Besides, he was a soldier, and he could not condemn her to
the life of a so