to the memory of
a man they had once distinguished, would have remained indifferent to
the melancholy looks of the commandant. Clemence d'Harville was
therefore doubly blamable, although she had only yielded to the
seduction of unhappiness, and, fortunately for her, had been preserved
alike by a keen sense of duty and the remembrance of the prince (which
still lurked in her heart, and kept faithful watch over it) from the
commission of an irreparable fault.

A thousand contradictory emotions disturbed the mind of Rodolph, as he
thought of his interview with Madame d'Harville. Firmly resolved to
resist the predilection which attracted him to her society, sometimes he
congratulated himself on being able to cast off his love for her by the
recollection of her having entangled herself with such a being as
Charles Robert; and the next instant he bitterly deplored seeing the
flattering veil with which he had invested his idol fall to the ground.

* * * * *

Clemence d'Harville, on her part, awaited the approaching interview with
much anxiety; but the two prevailing sentiments which pervaded her
breast were painful confusion, when she remembered the interference of
Rodolph, and a fixed aversion when she thought of M. Charles Robert, and
many reasons were concerned in this feeling of dislike almost
approaching hatred itself. A woman will risk her honour or her life for
a man, but she will never pardon him for having placed her in a
mortifying or a ridiculous situation.

Madame d'Harville felt her cheeks flush, and her pulse beat rapidly as
she indignantly recalled the insulting looks and impertinent remarks of
Madame Pipelet. Nor was this all. After receiving from Rodolph an
intimation of the danger she was incurring, Clemence had proceeded
rapidly towards the fifth floor, as directed, but the position of the
staircase was such that, as she hurried on, she perceived M. Charles
Robert in his dazzling _robe de chambre_, at the very instant when,
recognising the light step of the woman he expected, he, with a
self-satisfied, confident, and triumphant look, set the door of his
apartment half open. The air of insolent familiarity, expressed by the
_negligee_ toilet he had assumed, quickly enabled the marquise to
perceive how entirely she had been mistaken in his character. Led away
by the kindness and goodness of her heart, and the generosity of her
disposition, to take a step which might for ever