he took from it a pair of moderate-sized Manton's pistols, loaded
them, and placed them without difficulty in the pockets of his morning
wrapper. Joseph returned with the intimation that Madame d'Harville was
in her dressing-room.

"Has your lady ordered her carriage?"

"My lord, I heard Mlle. Juliette say to the head-coachman, when he came
to inquire her ladyship's orders for the day, that, 'as it was cold, dry
walking, if her ladyship went out at all, she would prefer going on
foot.'"

"Very well. Stay,--I forgot. I shall not go out hunting before
to-morrow, or probably, next day. Desire Williams to look the small
travelling-britcska carefully over. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly, my lord; it shall be attended to. Will not your lordship
require a stick?"

"No. Pray tell me, is there not a hackney coach-stand near here?"

"Quite close, my lord,--in the Rue de Lille."

After a moment's hesitation, the marquis continued: "Go and inquire of
Mlle. Juliette whether Madame d'Harville can see me for a few minutes."
Joseph obeyed.

"Yes," murmured the marquis, "I will see the cause of all my misery,--my
disgrace. I will contemplate the guilty mask beneath which the impure
heart conceals its adulterous designs. I will listen to the false lips
that speak the words of innocence, while deep dishonour lurks in the
candid smile,--a smile that seemed to me as that of an angel. Yet 'tis
an appalling spectacle to watch the words, the looks, of one who,
breathing only the sentiments of a chaste wife and mother, is about to
sully your name with one of those deep, deadly stains which can only be
washed out in blood. Fool that I am to give her the chance of again
bewildering my senses! She will look at me with her accustomed sweetness
and candour; greet me (all guilty as she is) with the same pure smile
she bestows upon her child, as, kneeling at her lap, it lisps its early
prayer. That look,--those eyes, mirrors of the soul,--the more modest
and pure the glance" (D'Harville shuddered with contempt) "the greater
must be the innate corruption and falsehood! Alas! she has proved
herself a consummate dissembler; and I--I--have been the veriest dupe!
Only let me consider with what sentiments must that woman look upon me,
if just previous to her meeting with her favoured lover I pay her my
accustomed visit, and express my usual devotion and love for her,--the
young, the virtuous wife, the tender, sensible, and devoted mother, as
unt