are in the temples of Hymen in those fairy pantomimes which finish
happily. In such situations every woman is a Janus, and sees behind
her without turning round; and thus Modeste perceived on the face of
her lover the indubitable symptoms of a love like Butscha's,--surely
the "ne plus ultra" of a woman's hope. Moreover, the great value which
La Briere attached to her opinion filled Modeste with an emotion that
was inestimably sweet.

"Mademoiselle," said Canalis, leaving the colonel and waylaying
Modeste, "in spite of the little value you attach to my sentiments, my
honor is concerned in effacing a stain under which I have suffered too
long. Here is a letter which I received from the Duchesse de Chaulieu
five days after my arrival in Havre."

He let Modeste read the first lines of the letter we have seen, which
the duchess began by saying that she had seen Mongenod, and now wished
to marry her poet to Modeste; then he tore that passage from the body
of the letter, and placed the fragment in her hand.

"I cannot let you read the rest," he said, putting the paper in his
pocket; "but I confide these few lines to your discretion, so that you
may verify the writing. A young girl who could accuse me of ignoble
sentiments is quite capable of suspecting some collusion, some
trickery. Ah, Modeste," he said, with tears in his voice, "your poet,
the poet of Madame de Chaulieu, has no less poetry in his heart than
in his mind. You are about to see the duchess; suspend your judgment
of me till then."

He left Modeste half bewildered.