At this moment they reached the summit of the rock, whence they saw
the vast ocean on one side and Brittany on the other, with its golden
isles, its feudal towers, and its gorse. Never did any woman stand on
a finer scene to make a great avowal.

"But," she continued, "I do not belong to myself; I am more bound by
my own will than I was by the law. You must be punished for my
misdeed, but be satisfied to know that we suffer together. Dante never
saw his Beatrice again; Petrarch never possessed his Laura. Such
disasters fall on none but noble souls. But, if I should be abandoned,
if I fall lower yet into shame and ignominy, if your Beatrix is
cruelly misjudged by the world she loathes, if indeed she is the
lowest of women,--then, my child, my adored child," she said, taking
his hand, "to you she will still be first of all; you will know that
she rises to heaven as she leans on you; but then, my friend," she
added, giving him an intoxicating look, "then if you wish to cast her
down do not fail of your blow; after your love, death!"

Calyste clasped her round the waist and pressed her to his heart. As
if to confirm her words Madame de Rochefide laid a tender, timid kiss
upon his brow. When they turned and walked slowly back; talking
together like those who have a perfect comprehension of each other,
--she, thinking she had gained a truce, he not doubting of his
happiness; and both deceived. Calyste, from what Camille had told him,
was confident that Conti would be enchanted to find an opportunity to
part from Beatrix; Beatrix, yielding herself up to the vagueness of
her position, looked to chance to arrange the future.

They reached Les Touches in the most delightful of all states of mind,