CHAPTER III.

THE BETROTHAL.


Six months had barely elapsed since Josephine's return from the
convent when the family Tascher de la Pagerie received from their
relatives in Paris letters which were to be of the greatest
importance for the whole family.

The beautiful Madame de Renaudin, sister of M. Tascher de la
Pagerie, had settled in Paris after having rid herself of an unhappy
marriage with a man, coarse and addicted to gambling, and after
having, through a legal separation, reobtained her freedom. She
lived there in the closest, intimacy with the Marquis de
Beauharnais, who, for many years, at an earlier period, had resided
as governor on the Island of Martinique, and there had bound himself
to the whole family of Tascher de la Pagerie by the ties of a
cordial friendship. His wife, during her residence in Martinique,
had been the most tender friend of Madame de Renaudin, and when the
marchioness bore a second son to her husband, Madame de Renaudin had
stood as godmother, and promised to love and protect the child of
her friend as if she were his mother.

Chance brought on the opportunity of accomplishing this promise and
of fulfilling the oath made to God before the altar. The Marchioness