"Why did you tear me from my husband?" she asked in a sort of terror.

"Alas!" said her lover, "I did not reckon on the trouble I should feel
in being near you, in hearing you speak to me. I have made plans,--two
or three plans,--and now that I see you all seems accomplished."

"But I am lost!" said the countess.

"We are saved!" the young man cried in the blind enthusiasm of his
love. "Listen to me carefully!"

"This will cost me my life!" she said, letting the tears that rolled
in her eyes flow down her cheeks. "The count will kill me,--to-night,
perhaps! But go to the king; tell him the tortures that his daughter
has endured these five years. He loved me well when I was little; he
called me 'Marie-full-of-grace,' because I was ugly. Ah! if he knew
the man to whom he gave me, his anger would be terrible. I have not
dared complain, out of pity for the count. Besides, how could I reach
the king? My confessor himself is a spy of Saint-Vallier. That is why
I have consented to this guilty meeting, to obtain a defender,--some
one to tell the truth to the king. Can I rely on-- Oh!" she cried,
turning pale and interrupting herself, "here comes the page!"

The poor countess put her hands before her face as if to veil it.

"Fear nothing," said the young seigneur, "he is won! You can safely
trust him; he belongs to me. When the count contrives to return for
you he will warn us of his coming. In the confessional," he added, in
a low voice, "is a priest, a friend of mine, who will tell him that he