s aid that rapid power of intuition which passion will
develop at moments in the least wise among mortals, while a great man
at such a time possesses it to the full. He guessed the terrible truth
revealed by the Duchess's nonchalance, and his heart swelled with the
storm like a lake rising in flood.

"If you told me the truth yesterday, be mine, dear Antoinette," he
cried; "you shall----"

"In the first place," said she composedly, thrusting him back as he
came nearer--"in the first place, you are not to compromise me. My woman
might overhear you. Respect me, I beg of you. Your familiarity is all
very well in my boudoir in an evening; here it is quite different.
Besides, what may your 'you shall' mean? 'You shall.' No one as yet
has ever used that word to me. It is quite ridiculous, it seems to me,
absolutely ridiculous.

"Will you surrender nothing to me on this point?"

"Oh! do you call a woman's right to dispose of herself a 'point?' A
capital point indeed; you will permit me to be entirely my own mistress
on that 'point.'"

"And how if, believing in your promises to me, I should absolutely
require it?"

"Oh! then you would prove that I made the greatest possible mistake when
I made you a promise of any kind; and I should beg you to leave me in
peace."

The General's face grew white; he was about to spring to her side, when
Mme de Langeais rang the bell, the maid appeared, and, smiling with a
mocking grace, the Duchess added, "Be so good as to return when I am
visible."

Then Montriveau felt the hardness of a woman as cold and keen as a steel
blade; she was crushing in her scorn. In one moment she had snapped
the bonds which held firm only for her lover. She had read Armand's
intention in his face, and held that the moment had come for teaching
the Imperial soldier his lesson. He was to be made to feel that though
duchesses may lend themselves to love, they do not give themselves, and
that the conquest of one of them would prove a harder matter than the
conquest of Europe.

"Madame," returned Armand, "I have not time to wait. I am a spoilt
child, as you told me yourself. When I seriously resolve to have that of
which we have been speaking, I shall have it."

"You will have it?" queried she, and there was a trace of surprise in
her loftiness.

"I shall have it."

"Oh! you would do me a great pleasure by 'resolving' to have it. For
curiosity's sake, I should be delighted to know how you would set about