One day, however, he fell in love.  The object of his affections, Clara Mulhausen, or, as she first calls herself, “de Millefleurs,” was an adventuress; but she did not at first allow him to find this out; and when he did so, her hold upon him had become too strong to be affected by the discovery.  A succession of circumstances, which Mr. Browning describes, first cemented the bond, then destroyed its secrecy; and since Clara had a husband, and the position could not be legalized, Leonce Miranda had no choice but to accept the social interdict, and with her retire from Paris.  He placed a substitute in the business, which had devolved on him through his father’s death; and the pair took up their abode at Clairvaux, an ancient priory, which the father had bought.  Here Miranda built and improved; indulged his amateur propensities for painting and music; remained devoted to his love, and was rewarded by her devotion.  For five years they were very happy.

The first interruption to their happiness was a summons to Miranda, from his mother in Paris, to come and answer for his excessive expenditure.  The immorality of his life she had condoned (a curious proof of this is given), for she hoped it would be its own cure.  But “his architectural freaks, above all, a Belvedere which he had constructed in his grounds, were a reckless waste of substance which she could not witness without displeasure.”  She had immense influence with her son; and he took her rebuke so much to heart, that he only left her to fling himself into the Seine.  He was brought out alive; but lay for a month at death’s door, and made no progress towards recovery till he had been restored to Clara’s care; and Clara was painfully winning him back to health, when the telegraphic wires flashed a second summons upon him.  His presence was again demanded in the maternal home.  “The business was urgent.  Its nature he would learn on arrival.”

He hastened to his mother’s house, to find her a corpse—­laid out with all the ghastly ceremonial which Catholic fancy could devise—­and to be told that his misconduct had killed her.  The tribe of cousins, who had planned the coup de theatre, were there to enjoy its result.  This did not fail them.  Miranda fainted away.  As soon as consciousness returned, he made his act of atonement.  He foreswore the illegal bond.  He willed away his fortune to his kinsfolk; and would retain of it, from that moment, only a pittance for himself, and the means of honourable subsistence for Clara.  They were to meet in the same house a week later, to arrange in what manner that sinful woman should be acquainted with the facts.