that your millions will never give you a pleasure equal to the
ineffable joy he will feel, when seeing you roll by in your carriage, he
says to himself: 'Those people owe everything to me!'"

His burning words vibrated with such intensity of feeling that
Marie-Anne could not resist the impulse to press his hand; and this
gesture was his revenge upon Martial, who turned pale with passion.

"But I have still another right," continued Maurice. "My father
yesterday had the honor of asking of Monsieur Lacheneur the hand of his
daughter----"

"And I refused it!" cried a terrible voice.

Marie-Anne and both young men turned with the same movement of alarm and
surprise.

M. Lacheneur stood before them, and by his side was Chanlouineau, who
surveyed the group with threatening eyes.

"Yes, I refused it," resumed M. Lacheneur, "and I do not believe that my
daughter will marry anyone without my consent. What did you promise me
this morning, Marie-Anne? Can it be you, you who grant a rendezvous to
gallants in the forest? Return to the house, instantly----"

"But father----"

"Return!" he repeated with an oath; "return, I command you."

She obeyed and departed, not without giving Maurice a look in which he
read a farewell that she believed would be eternal.

As soon as she had gone, perhaps twenty paces, M. Lacheneur, with folded
arms, confronted Maurice.

"As for you, Monsieur d'Escorval," said he, rudely, "I hope that you
will no longer undertake to prowl around my daughter----"

"I swear to you, Monsieur--"

"Oh, no oaths, if you please. It is an evil action to endeavor to turn
a young girl from her duty, which is obedience. You have broken forever
all relations between your family and mine."

The poor youth tried to excuse himself, but M. Lacheneur interrupted
him.

"Enough! enough!" said he; "go back to your home."

And as Maurice hesitated, he seized him by the collar and dragged him to
the little footpath leading through the grove.

It was the work of scarcely ten seconds, and yet, he found time to
whisper in the young man's ear, in his formerly friendly tones:

"Go, you little wretch! do you wish to render all my precautions
useless?"

He watched Maurice as he disappeared, bewildered by the scene he had
just witnessed, and stupefied by what he had just heard; and it was not
until he saw that young d'Escorval was out of hearing that he turned to
Martial.

"As I have had the honor of meeting you, Monsi