The Duchess
Fernand has the blood of the Montsorels and the Vaudreys in his veins.
The place to which he was born he is able to take; everything gives
way before him wherever he appears. If he became a soldier, he is
to-day a colonel. My son is proud, he is handsome, people like him! I
am sure he is beloved. Do not contradict me, dear aunt; Fernand still
lives; if not, then the duke has broken faith, and I know he values
too highly the virtues of his race to disgrace them.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
But are not honor and a husband's vengeance dearer to him than his
faith as a gentleman?

The Duchess
Ah! You make me shudder.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
You know very well, Louise, that pride of race is hereditary with the
Montsorels, as it is with the Montemarts.

The Duchess
I know it too well! The doubt cast upon his child's legitimacy has
almost crazed him.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
You are wrong there. The duke has a warm heart, and a cool head; in
all matters that concern the sentiments on which they live, men of
that temper act promptly in carrying out their ideas.

The Duchess