ghter's
nature well enough to be assured that what she said, that she would do.

But he was conquered; his daughter had won the battle. He had decided to
make the heroic sacrifice.

"I will relinquish Sairmeuse," he faltered, "come what may----"

He paused suddenly; a visitor was entering the room.

It was a young man about twenty years of age, of distinguished
appearance, but with a rather melancholy and gentle manner.

His eyes when he entered the apartment encountered those of Marie-Anne;
he blushed slightly, and the girl half turned away, crimsoning to the
roots of her hair.

"Monsieur," said the young man, "my father sends me to inform you that
the Duc de Sairmeuse and his son have just arrived. They have asked the
hospitality of our cure."

M. Lacheneur rose, unable to conceal his frightful agitation.

"You will thank the Baron d'Escorval for his attention, my dear
Maurice," he responded. "I shall have the honor of seeing him to-day,
after a very momentous step which we are about to take, my daughter and
I."

Young d'Escorval had seen, at the first glance, that his presence was
inopportune, so he remained only a few moments.

But as he was taking leave, Marie-Anne found time to say, in a low
voice:

"I think I know your heart, Maurice; this evening I shall know it
certainly."

CHAPTER III

Few of the inhabitants of Sairmeuse knew, except by name, the terrible
duke whose arrival had thrown the whole village into commotion.

Some of the oldest residents had a faint recollection of having seen
him long ago, before '89 indeed, when he came to visit his aunt, Mlle.
Armande.

His duties, then, had seldom permitted him to leave the court.

If he had given no sign of life during the empire, it was because he had
not been compelled to submit to the humiliations and suffering which so
many of the emigrants were obliged to endure in their exile.

On the contrary, he had received, in exchange for the wealth of which he
had been deprived by the revolution, a princely fortune.

Taking refuge in London after the defeat of the army of Conde, he had
been so fortunate as to please the only daughter of Lord Holland, one of
the richest peers in England, and he had married her.

She possessed a fortune of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds
sterling, more than six million francs.

Still the marriage was not a happy one. The chosen companion of the
dissipated and licentious Count d'Artois was not likely