to leave the
room, but suddenly changing his mind, he bowed low before Mademoiselle
Marguerite, and said, in a husky voice: "Forgive me, mademoiselle, I did
not know what I was doing. I have been misinformed. I have been beguiled
by false hopes. I entreat you to say that you forgive me."

"I forgive you, monsieur."

But still he lingered. "I am only a poor devil of a lieutenant," he
resumed, "with no other fortune than my epaulettes, no other prospects
than an uncertain advancement. I have been foolish and thoughtless. I
have committed many acts of folly; but there is nothing in my past life
for which I have cause to blush." He looked fixedly at Mademoiselle
Marguerite, as if he were striving to read her inmost soul; and in a
solemn tone, that contrasted strangely with his usual levity of manner,
he added: "If the name I bear should ever be compromised, my prospects
would be blighted forever! The only course left for me would be to
tender my resignation. I will leave nothing undone to preserve my honor
in the eyes of the world, and to right those who have been wronged.
Promise me not to interfere with my plans."

Mademoiselle Marguerite trembled like a leaf. She now realized her
terrible imprudence. He had divined everything. As she remained silent,
he continued wildly: "I entreat you. Do you wish me to beg you at your
feet?"

Ah! it was a terrible sacrifice that he demanded of her. But how could
she remain obdurate in the presence of such intense anguish? "I will
remain neutral," she replied, "that is all I can promise. Providence
shall decide."

"Thank you," he said, sadly, suspecting that perhaps it was already too
late--"thank you." Then he turned to go, and, in fact, he had already
opened the door, when a forlorn hope brought him back to Mademoiselle
Marguerite, whose hand he took, timidly faltering, "We are friends, are
we not?"

She did not withdraw her icy hand, and in a scarcely audible voice, she
repeated: "We are friends?"

Convinced that he could obtain nothing more from her than her promised
neutrality, the lieutenant thereupon hastily left the room, and she sank
back in her chair more dead than alive. "Great God! what is coming now?"
she murmured.

She thought she could understand the unfortunate young man's intentions,
and she listened with a throbbing heart, expecting to hear a stormy
explanation between his parents and himself. In point of fact, she
almost immediately afterward heard the lie