de Beauharnais returned to France in the year 1763 with her husband
and her two sons, but died there a short time after; and Madame de
Renaudin, true to her oath, hastened to replace the natural
guardian, the mother.

Perhaps she had but followed the dictates of her heart, perhaps
against her will a sentiment of joy had passed over her at the death
of the poor marchioness, for, by this death, one at least of the two
obstacles intervening between Madame de Renaudin and the Marquis de
Beauharnais had been removed. Both married, both of the Catholic
religion, death alone could make their hands free, and confer upon
them the right of joining hands together for all their days.

They loved one another, they had ceased long ago to make a secret of
it; they avowed it to each other and to their dependants, for their
brave, loyal, and noble hearts would not stoop to falsehood and
deception, and they had the courage to acknowledge what their
sentiments were.

Death had then made free the hand of the Marquis de Beauharnais, but
life held yet in bondage the hand of the Baroness de Renaudin.

As long as her husband lived, she could not, though legally divorced
from him, conscientiously think of a second marriage.

But she possessed the courage and the loyalty of true love; she had
seen and experienced enough of the world to despise its judgments,
and with cheerful determination do what in her conscience she held
to be good and right.