uggle. Resist him, but love him; deny him gently. My hidden
tears, my inward griefs will be known only when I am dead. Kiss my
dear children in my name when the hour comes and you are called
upon to protect them.

May God and the saints be with you!

Josephine.

To this letter was added an acknowledgment from the Messieurs de Solis,
uncle and nephew, who thereby bound themselves to place the money
entrusted to them by Madame Claes in the hands of whoever of her
children should present the paper.

"Martha," cried Marguerite to the duenna, who came quickly; "go to
Monsieur Emmanuel de Solis, and ask him to come to me.--Noble, discreet
heart! he never told me," she thought; "though all my griefs and cares
are his, he never told me!"

Emmanuel came before Martha could get back.

"You have kept a secret from me," she said, showing him her mother's
letter.

Emmanuel bent his head.

"Marguerite, are you in great trouble?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered; "be my support,--you, whom my mother calls 'our
good Emmanuel.'" She showed him the letter, unable to repress her joy in
knowing that her mother approved her choice.

"My blood and my life were yours on the morrow of the day when I first
saw you in the gallery," he said; "but I scarcely dared to hope the time
might come when you would accept them. If you know me well, you know
my word is sacred. Forgive the absolute obedience I have paid to your
mother's wishes; it was not for me to judge her intentions."

"You have saved us," she said, interrupting him, and taking his arm to
go down to the parlor.

After hearing from Emmanuel the origin of the money entrusted to him,
Marguerite confided to him the terrible straits in which the family now
found themselves.

"I must pay those notes at once," said Emmanuel. "If Merkstus holds them
all, you can at least save the interest. I will bring you the remaining
seventy thousand francs. My poor uncle left me quite a large sum in
ducats, which are easy to carry secretly."

"Oh!" she said, "bring them at night; we can hide them when my father is
asleep. If he knew that I had money, he might try to force it from me.
Oh, Emmanuel, think what it is to distrust a father!" she said, weeping
and resting her forehead against the young man's heart.

This sad, confiding movement, with which the young girl asked
protection, was the first expression of a love hitherto wrapped in
melancholy and restrained within a sphere of