same anxieties and ideas that had darkened Nathan's brow the night
before.

"Well, what was the matter with your sister?" said Felix, when his
wife returned. "You look distressed."

"It is a dreadful history about which I am bound to secrecy," she
said, summoning all her nerve to appear calm before him.

In order to be alone and to think at her ease, she went to the Opera
in the evening, after which she resolved to go (as we have seen) and
discharge her heart into that of her sister, Madame du Tillet;
relating to her the horrible scene of the morning, and begging her
advice and assistance. Neither the one nor the other could then know
that du Tillet himself had lighted the charcoal of the vulgar brazier,
the sight of which had so justly terrified the countess.

"He has but me in all the world," said Marie to her sister, "and I
will not fail him."

That speech contains the secret motive of most women; they can be
heroic when they are certain of being all in all to a grand and
irreproachable being.



CHAPTER VIII

A LOVER SAVED AND LOST