thus to his memory all she had told
him in her soft, sweet voice, he asked himself if she had not really
been slandered; and, if there was actually something amiss in her
past life, why should it not rather be laid at the door of those two
equivocal personages who watched over her, M. Elgin and Mrs. Brian.

What boldness this strange girl had displayed in her defence! but also
what lofty nobility! How well she had said that she did not love Count
Ville-Handry with real love, and that, until now, no man had even
succeeded in quickening her pulse! Was she of marble, and susceptible
only of delight in foolish vanity?

Oh, no! a thousand times no! The most refined coquetry never achieved
that passionate violence; the most accomplished artist never possessed
that marvellous contagion which is the sublime gift of truth alone. And,
whatever he could do, his head and heart remained still filled with Miss
Brandon; and Daniel trembled as he remembered certain words in which,
under almost transparent illusions, the secret of her heart had betrayed
itself. Could she have told Daniel more pointedly than she had actually
done, "He whom I could love is none other but you"? Certainly not!
And as he thought of it his heart was filled with a sense of eager and
unwholesome desires; for he was a man, no better, no worse, than other
men; and there are but too many men nowadays, who would value a few
hours of happiness with a woman like Miss Brandon more highly than a
whole life of chaste love by the side of a pure and noble woman.

"But what is that to me?" he repeated. "Can I love her, I?"

Then he began again to revolve in his mind what might have happened
after his flight from the house.

How had Miss Brandon explained his escape? How had she accounted for her
own excitement?

And, drawn by an invincible power, Daniel had risen to return to the
house; and there, half-hid under the shadow of the opposite side, in a
deep doorway, he watched anxiously the windows, as if they could have
told him any thing of what was going on inside. The reception-room
was still brilliantly lighted, and people came and went, casting their
shadows upon the white curtains. A man came and leaned his face against
the window, then suddenly he drew back; and Daniel distinctly recognized
Count Ville-Handry.

What did that mean? Did it not imply that Miss Brandon had been taken
suddenly ill, and that people were anxious about her? These were
Daniel's thought