ir was warm; the
Duchess, feeling the heat, opened her eyes, and found herself standing
by the fire in the Comtesse de Serizy's boudoir.

She was alone. Her first thought was for her disordered toilette; in a
moment she had adjusted her dress and restored her picturesque coiffure.

"Well, dear Antoinette, we have been looking for you everywhere." It was
the Comtesse de Serizy who spoke as she opened the door.

"I came here to breathe," said the Duchess; "it is unbearably hot in the
rooms."

"People thought that you had gone; but my brother Ronquerolles told me
that your servants were waiting for you."

"I am tired out, dear, let me stay and rest here for a minute," and the
Duchess sat down on the sofa.

"Why, what is the matter with you? You are shaking from head to foot!"

The Marquis de Ronquerolles came in.

"Mme la Duchesse, I was afraid that something might have happened. I
have just come across your coachman, the man is as tipsy as all the
Swiss in Switzerland."

The Duchess made no answer; she was looking round the room, at the
chimney-piece and the tall mirrors, seeking the trace of an opening.
Then with an extraordinary sensation she recollected that she was again
in the midst of the gaiety of the ballroom after that terrific scene
which had changed the whole course of her life. She began to shiver
violently.

"M. de Montriveau's prophecy has shaken my nerves," she said. "It was
a joke, but still I will see whether his axe from London will haunt me
even in my sleep. So good-bye, dear.--Good-bye, M. le Marquis."

As she went through the rooms she was beset with inquiries and regrets.
Her world seemed to have dwindled now that she, its queen, had fallen so
low, was so diminished. And what, moreover, were these men compared with
him whom she loved with all her heart; with the man grown great by all
that she had lost in stature? The giant had regained the height that he
had lost for a while, and she exaggerated it perhaps beyond measure. She
looked, in spite of herself, at the servant who had attended her to the
ball. He was fast asleep.

"Have you been here all the time?" she asked.

"Yes, madame."

As she took her seat in her carriage she saw, in fact, that her coachman
was drunk--so drunk, that at any other time she would have been afraid;
but after a great crisis in life, fear loses its appetite for common
food. She reached home, at any rate, without accident; but even there
she felt a change