this relationship, had always treated my father and
myself as his cousins.

You also know, I think, that during a long stay the prince made
recently in France my father was left at the head of the affairs
of the duchy. It is not any feeling of ostentatious pride, as
you well know, Maximilian, that makes me recapitulate all these
circumstances, but to explain to you the causes of the extreme
intimacy that existed between the grand duke and myself during
my stay at Gerolstein.

Do you recollect that last year, after our voyage on the banks
of the Rhine, we heard that the prince had found and married,
_in extremis_, the Countess Macgregor, in order to legitimise
the daughter he had had by her by a previous and secret
marriage, afterwards annulled, because it had been contracted
against the consent of the late grand duke?

This young girl, thus formally recognised, this charming
Princess Amelie, of whom Lord Dudley, who had seen her at
Gerolstein about a year ago, spoke to us with an enthusiasm that
we suspected of exaggeration, strange chance! who would have
said then--

But although you have doubtless penetrated my secret, let me
pursue the progress of events.

The convent of Ste. Hermangeld, of which my aunt is abbess, is
scarcely a quarter of a league from Gerolstein, for the gardens
of the abbey touch the outskirts of the town. A charming house,
perfectly isolated from the cloisters, had been placed at my
disposal by my aunt, who has, as you know, the affection of a
mother for me. The day of my arrival she informed me a grand
drawing-room would be held the next day, as the grand duke was
going formally to announce his intended marriage with La
Marquise d'Harville, who had just arrived at Gerolstein with her
father, the Comte d'Orbigny.

The duke was blamed by some for not having sought an alliance
with some royal house, but others, and amongst them my aunt,
congratulated him on having chosen, instead of a marriage of
ambition, a young and lovely woman to whom he was deeply
attached, and who belonged to one of the first families in
France. You know, too, that my aunt has always had the greatest
regard for the grand duke, and has always appreciated his fine
qualities.

"My dear child," said she to me, speaking of the drawing-room,
to which I was go