Madame, unless you hand me this certificate, your Fernand will have
serious cause for alarm. As soon as you returned to France you secured
the document, and are trying to employ it as a weapon against me. You
desire to obtain for your son a fortune and a name which do not belong
to him; to secure his admission into a family, whose race has up to my
time been kept pure by wives of stainless reputation, a family which
has never formed a single mesalliance--

The Duchess
And which will be worthily represented by your son Albert.

The Duke
Be careful what you say, for you waken in me terrible memories. And
your last word shows me that you will not shrink from causing a
scandal that will overwhelm all of us with shame. Shall we air in
public courts past occurrences which will show that I am not free from
reproach, while you are infamous? (He turns to Mademoiselle de
Vaudrey) She cannot have told you everything, dear aunt? She was in
love with Viscount Langeac; I knew it, and respected her love; I was
so young! The viscount came to me; being without hope of inheriting a
fortune, and the last representative of his house, he unselfishly
offered to give up Louise de Vaudrey. I trusted in their mutual
generosity, and accepted her as a pure woman from his hands. Ah! I
would have given my life for her, and I have proved it! The wretched
man performed prodigies of valor on the Tenth of August, and called
down upon himself the rage of the mob; I put him under the protection
of some of my people; he was, however, discovered and taken to the
Abbaye. As soon as I learned his predicament, I gave into the hands of
a certain Boulard all the money I had collected for our flight! I
induced Boulard to join the Septembrists in order to save the viscount