“Oh! he is so already.”

“Confess that he has cause.  Therefore you must not prolong this visit; he might take it amiss.  As soon as any one arrives—­” and she added with a smile, “some one is going to arrive—­you must go.  You have to keep up appearance, you know.  Remember his manner when he left us to-night.”

I was tempted to interpret this adventure as a trap, but as she noticed the impression made by her words, she added: 

“Oh, he was very much gayer when he was superintending the arrangement of the cabinet I told you about.  That was before my marriage.  This passage leads to my apartment.  Alas! it testifies to the cunning artifices to which Monsieur de T----- has resorted in protecting his love for me.”

“How pleasant it would be,” I said to her, keenly excited by the curiosity she had roused in me, “to take vengeance in this spot for the insults which your charms have suffered, and to seek to make restitution for the pleasures of which you have been robbed.”

She doubtless thought this remark in good taste, but she said:  “You promised to be good!”

* * * * *

I threw a veil over the follies which every age will pardon to youth, on the ground of so many balked desires and bitter memories.  In the morning, scarcely raising her liquid eyes, Madame de T-----, fairer than ever, said to me: 

“Now will you ever love the countess as much as you do me?”

I was about to answer when her maid, her confidante, appeared saying: 

“You must go.  It is broad daylight, eleven o’clock, and the chateau is already awake.”

All had vanished like a dream!  I found myself wandering through the corridors before I had recovered my senses.  How could I regain my apartment, not knowing where it was?  Any mistake might bring about an exposure.  I resolved on a morning walk.  The coolness of the fresh air gradually tranquilized my imagination and brought me back to the world of reality; and now instead of a world of enchantment I saw myself in my soul, and my thoughts were no longer disturbed but followed each other in connected order; in fact, I breathed once more.  I was, above all things, anxious to learn what I was to her so lately left—­I who knew that she had been desperately in love with the Marquis de V-----.  Could she have broken with him?  Had she taken me to be his successor, or only to punish him?  What a night!  What an adventure!  Yes, and what a delightful woman!  While I floated on the waves of these thoughts, I heard a sound near at hand.  I raised my eyes, I rubbed them, I could not believe my senses.  Can you guess who it was?  The Marquis de V-----!

“You did not expect to see me so early, did you?” he said.  “How has it all gone off?”

“Did you know that I was here?” I asked in utter amazement.

“Oh, yes, I received word just as you left Paris.  Have you played your part well?  Did not the husband think your visit ridiculous?  Was he put out?  When are you going to take leave?  You had better go, I have made every provision for you.  I have brought you a good carriage.  It is at your service.  This is the way I requite you, my dear friend.  You may rely on me in the future, for a man is grateful for such services as yours.”