d; and Daniel saw that he would not obtain
another word from him, unless he changed his tactics. He held him back,
therefore, a moment; and, as he opened the door, he said,--

"Maxime, you must pardon me a very innocent deception, which was
suggested by your own words. It is not I who am in love with Miss Sarah
Brandon."

Brevan was so much surprised, he could not stir.

"Who is it, then?" he asked.

"One of my friends."

"What name?"

"I wish you would render the service I ask of you doubly valuable by not
asking me that question,--at least, not to-day."

Daniel spoke with such an accent of truth, that not a shadow of doubt
remained on Maxime's mind. It was not Daniel who had fallen in love with
Sarah Brandon. Brevan did not doubt that for a moment. But he could not
conceal his trouble, and his disappointment even, as he exclaimed,--

"Well done, Daniel! Tell me that your ingenuous people cannot deceive
anybody!"

However, he said nothing more about it; and, while Daniel was pouring
out his excuses, he quietly went back to the fire, and sat down. After a
moment's silence, he began again,--

"Let us assume, then, that it is one of your friends who is bewitched?"

"Yes."

"And the matter is--serious?"

"Alas! He talks of marrying that woman."

Maxime shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and said,--

"As to that, console yourself. Sarah will never consent."

"So far from that, she herself has made the suggestion."

This time, Maxime raised his head suddenly, and looked stupefied.

"Then your friend must be very rich."

"He is immensely rich."

"He bears a great name, and holds a high position?"

"His name is one of the oldest and noblest in the province of Anjou."

"And he is a very old man?"

"He is sixty-five."

Brevan struck the marble slab of the mantlepiece with his fist so that
it shook, and exclaimed,--

"Ah, she told me she would succeed!"

And then he added in a very low tone of voice, as if speaking to himself
with an indescribable accent of mingled admiration and hatred,--

"What a woman! Oh, what a woman!"

Daniel, who was himself greatly excited, and far too busy with his own
thoughts to observe what was going on, did not notice the excitement of
his friend; he continued quietly,--

"Now you will understand my great curiosity. In order to prevent the
scandal of such a marriage, my friend's family would do every thing in
the world. But how can you attack a woman of whose