was not easily followed, particularly by one whose position was so
peculiar as my own. In a way I had little cause to fear the harm
the Chevalier might do me, but I was impelled to consider the harm
that at the same time he might do the Vicomte.

Despite our growing enmity, the Chevalier and I were very frequently
thrown together. The reason for this was, of course, that wherever
Roxalanne was to be found there, generally, were we both to be found
also. Yet had I advantages that must have gone to swell a rancour
based as much upon jealousy as any other sentiment, for whilst he
was but a daily visitor at Lavedan, I was established there
indefinitely.

Of the use that I made of that time I find it difficult to speak.
From the first moment that I had beheld Roxalanne I had realized
the truth of Chatellerault's assertion that I had never known a
woman. He was right. Those that I had met and by whom I had
judged the sex had, by contrast with this child, little claim to
the title. Virtue I had accounted a shadow without substance;
innocence, a synonym for ignorance; love, a fable, a fairy tale
for the delectation of overgrown children.

In the company of Roxalanne de Lavedan all those old, cynical
beliefs, built up upon a youth of undesirable experiences, were
shattered and the error of them exposed. Swiftly was I becoming a
convert to the faith which so long I had sneered at, and as lovesick
as any unfledged youth in his first amour.

Damn! It was something for a man who had lived as I had lived to
have his pulses quicken and his colour change at a maid's approach;