subject. How can I reconcile my letter with my present situation? But,
my dear mother, it would be feebleness in me to go further with the
engagement. I have doubtless been imprudent in contracting an
engagement without your consent, but I should be a monster if I
violated my oaths and married Mademoiselle de Vesian. I do not doubt
that you tremble at the abyss over which you fear that I am about to
fall, but I feel that I can only live with Eleonore, and I hope that
you will give your consent to our union. My fortune will suffice for
our wants, and we shall live near you. But I shall only come to Albi
when Mademoiselle de Vesian shall be married, and when I can be sure
that another, a thousand times more worthy than I am, shall have sworn
to her an attachment deeper than that which it was in my power to
offer. I shall write neither to Madame nor Monsieur de Vesian. Join to
your other kindnesses that of undertaking this painful commission."

There was no mistaking the firm, if regretful tone, of that
letter; and Laperouse married his Eleonore at Paris.

Did Mademoiselle de Vesian break her heart because her sailor fiance
had wed another? Not at all! She at once became engaged to the Baron de
Senegas--had she seen him beforehand, one wonders?--and married him
in August! Laperouse was prompt to write his congratulations to her
parents, and it is diverting to find him saying, concerning the lady to
whom he himself had been engaged only a few weeks before, that he
regretted "never having had the honour of seeing her!"

But there was still another difficulty to be overcome before Laperouse
and his happy young bride could feel secure. He had broken a regulation
of the service by marrying without official sanction. True, he had
talked of settling down at Albi, but that was when he thought he was