this prospect, this distinguished life, this splendid alliance. Ah!
Charlotte, some day you will do me justice by discovering how unlike
my character is to that of other young men. You would have been
compelled to deceive me; yes, you would have found it very difficult
to break with me, for he watches you. It is time that we should part,
for the Duke is rigidly virtuous. You must turn prude; I advise you to
do so. The Duke is vain; he will be proud of his wife.'--'Oh!' cried
she, bursting into tears, 'Henri, if only you had spoken! Yes, if you
had chosen'--it was I who was to blame, you understand--'we would have
gone to live all our days in a corner, married, happy, and defied the
world.'--'Well, it is too late now,' said I, kissing her hands, and
putting on a victimized air.--'Good God! But I can undo it all!' said
she.--'No, you have gone too far with the Duke. I ought indeed to go a
journey to part us more effectually. We should both have reason to
fear our own affection----'--'Henri, do you think the Duke has any
suspicions?' I was still 'Henri,' but the _tu_ was lost for ever.--'I
do not think so,' I replied, assuming the manner of a friend; 'but be
as devout as possible, reconcile yourself to God, for the Duke waits
for proofs; he hesitates, you must bring him to the point.'

"She rose, and walked twice round the boudoir in real or affected
agitation; then she no doubt found an attitude and a look beseeming
the new state of affairs, for she stopped in front of me, held out her
hand, and said in a voice broken by emotion, 'Well, Henri, you are
loyal, noble, and a charming man; I shall never forget you.'

"These were admirable tactics. She was bewitching in this transition
of feeling, indispensable to the situation in which she wished to
place herself in regard to me. I fell into the attitude, the manners,
and the look of a man so deeply distressed, that I saw her too newly