hat you are going to him, to him whom I love, and I come to
demand this man of you."

These half-threatening, half-commanding words, at last drove Elise
from the assumed tranquillity she had maintained with so much
difficulty. "I know not of whom you speak," cried she, in a loud
voice.

But the countess was tired of dealing in these half-concealed
meanings, these mysterious allusions. "You know of whom I speak,"
cried she, vehemently. "You know that I have come to demand the
restoration of my holiest possession, the heart of my beloved. Oh!
give him back to me, give me back my betrothed, for he belongs to me,
and cannot be another's. Let my tears persuade you. You are young,
rich, handsome; you have every thing that makes life happy. I have
nothing but him. Leave him to me."

Elise felt furious. Like a tigress, she could have strangled this
woman, who came to destroy her happiness. A wild, angry laugh rang
from her lips: "You say that you love him," exclaimed she. "Well,
then, go to him and ask him for his heart. Why do you demand it of
_me_? Win it from him, if you can."

"In order to be able to win it, you must first release him from the
fetters with which you have bound him."

An angry flush overspread Elise's pale face. "You become insulting,"
she said.

The countess paid no attention to these words, but continued still
more vehemently: "Make him free. Loose the bands which fetter him, and
then, I am sure, he will return to me and be mine again."

Elise stared terrified at the face of the countess, excited and
streaming with tears. She had heard but one little word, but this word
had pierced her heart like a dagger.

"_Return_ to you?" asked she, breathlessly. "Be yours _again_? He was
then _once_ yours?"

"I yielded to him what is most sacred in life, and yet you ask if he
was mine!" said the countess, smiling sadly.

Elise uttered a loud, piercing shriek, and covered her face with her
hands. Her emotion was so expressive and painful that it touched the
heart even of her rival. Almost lovingly she passed her arm around
Elise's waist and drew her down gently to her on the sofa. "Come,"
said she, "let us sit by each other like two sisters. Come, and listen
to me. I will disclose a picture which will make your soul shudder!"

Elise yielded to her mechanically. She let herself involuntarily glide
down on the sofa, and suffered the countess to take her hand. "Feodor
once belonged to her," she murmured. "H