ld not turn out his,
Yvon's friend, the only man he ever cared to call his brother,--and so
on and so on, till I cut him short. For now I saw no way, Melody, but to
tell him how it was with me; and this I did in as few words as might
be, and begged him to let me go quietly, and say no more. For once, I
think, the lad was put to such depth of sorrow as was in him. He had
never guessed, never thought of this; his sister was a child to him, and
must be so, he supposed, to all. How could he tell? Why had he brought
me here, to suffer? He was a criminal! What could he do? And then there
struck him a thought, and he glanced up sharply at me, and I saw not the
face of my friend, but one cold and questioning. Had I spoken to his
sister? Did she--

I cut him short at the word. Of that, I said, he could judge better than
I, having been in my company daily for three months. He fell on my neck
again, and implored my pardon; and said, I think, that twenty viscounts
were less noble than I. I cared little for my nobility; all I asked was
to get away, and hide my wound among my own friendly people.

And so it was arranged that I was to go that night; and we walked back
to the chateau, speaking little, but our hearts full of true affection,
and--save for that one sting of a moment--trust in each other.

CHAPTER XI.

THE disturbance of my mind had been so great, that all this while I had
forgotten the letter of which Mme. de Lalange had spoken the night
before. I had seen it when I first went to my room, but was in no mood
for village news then; I saw that it was in the large round hand of Ham
Belfort, and thought it kind in him to write, seeing that it cost him
some effort; then I forgot it, as I said. But now, going again to my
room, and with nothing much to do save wait the hour of my departure, I
took the letter up, idly enough, thinking I might as well do this as
another thing. This is what I read, Melody. No fear of my forgetting the
words.

FRIEND JAKEY:

I am sorry to have bad news to send you this first
time of my writing. Father says to prepare your
mind, but I never found it work that way myself,
always liking to know straight out how things was,
and I think you are the same. Your father has been
hearty, for him, till about a week ago. Then he
begun to act strange, and would go about looking
for your mother, as if she was