And why should this be? But, my friend, do you not
see in my seeking to defend so weak a cause sufficient intimation
that such a justification involves a consciousness of requiring
it? Alas! I plead guilty, and will no longer delay the painful
confession I have to make.
Do you remember a singularly handsome young man, who, during my
abode with madame Lagarde, fascinated me till my very senses seemed
bewildered by my passion. You know how he betrayed me, and how,
through him, I was expelled the house, as well as the termination
of this foolish adventure. You are now to pass over seven or
eight years, and take your place with me in the drawing-room, in
which I stood when I rang to summon a servant to convey a letter
to the duc de Villeroi. You may remember what I told you in the
last chapter of the person who entered, of his agitation and his
blushes, and of his fixing his eyes with deep meaning upon me till
he quitted the room-this servant was Noel!
Had I listened to the dictates of prudence, I should, without
loss of time, have obtained against him a
,
which would have freed me from all chance of discovery through
his means; but I could not listen to such cool-blooded, though
cautious, suggestions. One idea only took possession of my
mind--the absurd desire to know what had become of Noel since we
separated, and by what accident I now found him wearing my livery
in the castle.
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