cloak, and appealing to Chevalier de Moranges, said--

"You are young, monsieur; I have never done you any harm; protect me,
have pity on me, help me to soften him!"

"Uncle," said the chevalier in a pleading tone, "be generous, and don't
drive this woman to despair."

"Prayers are useless!" answered the commander.

"What do you want me to do?" said Angelique. "Shall I go into a convent
to atone? I am ready to go. Shall I promise never to see him again?
For God's sake, give me a little time; put off your vengeance for one
single day! To-morrow evening, I swear to you, you will have nothing
more to fear from me. I thought myself forgotten by you and abandoned;
and how should I think otherwise? You left me without a word of
farewell, you stayed away and never sent me a line! And how do you know
that I did not weep when you deserted me, leaving me to pass my days in
monotonous solitude? How do you know that I did not make every effort to
find out why you were so long absent from my side? You say you had left
town but how was I to know that? Oh! promise me, if you love me, to give
up this duel! Promise me not to seek that man out to-morrow!"

The poor creature hoped to work wonders with her eloquence, her tears,
her pleading glances. On hearing her prayer for a reprieve of
twenty-four hours, swearing that after that she would never see Jeannin
again, the commander and the chevalier were obliged to bite their lips to
keep from laughing outright. But the former soon regained his
self-possession, and while Angelique, still on her knees before him,
pressed his hands to her bosom, he forced her to raise her head, and