"And if that name is not mine, madame?" said the abbe, growing bolder;
"if unfortunate, terrible, fatal circumstances have compelled me to take
that name in order to hide another that was too unhappily famous, would
your Highness then be so unjust as not to change your mind?"

"Monsieur," replied the countess, "you have said too much now not to go
on to the end. Who are you? Tell me. And if, as you give me to
understand, you are of good birth, I swear to you that want of fortune
shall not stand in the way."

"Alas, madame," cried the abbe, throwing himself at her feet, "my name, I
am sure, is but too familiar to your Highness, and I would willingly at
this moment give half my blood that you had never heard it uttered; but
you have said it, madame, have gone too far to recede. Well, then, I am
that unhappy abbe de Ganges whose crimes are known and of whom I have
more than once heard you speak."

"The abbe de Ganges!" cried the countess in horror,--"the abbe de Ganges!
You are that execrable abbe de Ganges whose very name makes one shudder?
And to you, to a man thus infamous, we have entrusted the education of
our only son? Oh, I hope, for all our sakes, monsieur, that you are
speaking falsely; for if you were speaking the truth I think I should
have you arrested this very instant and taken back to France to undergo
your punishment. The best thing you can do, if what you have said to me
is true, is instantly to leave not only the castle, but the town and the
principality; it will be torment enough for the rest of my life whenever
I think that I have spent seven years under the same roof with you."

The abbe would have replied; but the countess raised her voice so much,