ove.

Marie-Anne must have felt a similar fear, for she hurried on, casting
anxious glances on every side as she ran. Maurice remarked, not without
surprise, that she was bare-headed, and that she had neither shawl nor
scarf about her shoulders.

As she reached the edge of the wood, he sprang toward her, and catching
her hand raised it to his lips.

But this hand, which she had so often yielded to him, was now gently
withdrawn, with so sad a gesture that he could not help feeling there
was no hope.

"I came, Maurice," she began, "because I could not endure the thought of
your anxiety. By doing so I have betrayed my father's confidence--he was
obliged to leave home. I hastened here. And yet I promised him, only two
hours ago, that I would never see you again. You hear me--never!"

She spoke hurriedly, but Maurice was appalled by the firmness of her
accent.

Had he been less agitated, he would have seen what a terrible effort
this semblance of calmness cost the young girl. He would have understood
it from her pallor, from the contraction of her lips, from the redness
of the eyelids which she had vainly bathed with fresh water, and which
betrayed the tears that had fallen during the night.

"If I have come," she continued, "it is only to tell you that, for
your own sake, as well as for mine, there must not remain in the secret
recesses of your heart even the slightest shadow of a hope. All is over;
we are separated forever! Only weak natures revolt against a destiny
which they cannot alter. Let us accept our fate uncomplainingly. I
wished to see you once more, and to say this: Have courage, Maurice. Go
away--leave Escorval--forget me!"

"Forget you, Marie-Anne!" exclaimed the wretched young man, "forget
you!"

His eyes met hers, and in a husky voice he added:

"Will you then forget me?"

"I am a woman, Maurice--"

But he interrupted her:

"Ah! I did not expect this," he said, despondently. "Poor fool that I
was! I believed that you would find a way to touch your father's heart."

She blushed slightly, hesitated, and said:

"I have thrown myself at my father's feet; he repulsed me."

Maurice was thunderstruck, but recovering himself:

"It was because you did not know how to speak to him!" he exclaimed in
a passion of fury; "but I shall know--I will present such arguments that
he will be forced to yield. What right has he to ruin my happiness with
his caprices? I love you---by right of this love, you ar