him! I never thought of love and him together! He is not handsome,
like your brother Le Gardeur, who is my beau-ideal of a man I could
love; nor has the intellect and nobility of Colonel Philibert, who
is my model of a heroic man. I could love such men as them. But my
ambition would not be content with less than a governor or royal
intendant in New France. In old France I would not put up with less
than the King himself!"

Angelique laughed at her own extravagance, but she believed in it
all the same. Amelie, though shocked at her wildness, could not
help smiling at her folly.

"Have you done raving?" said she; "I have no right to question your
selection of a lover or doubt your power, Angelique. But are you
sure there exists no insurmountable obstacle to oppose these high
aspirations? It is whispered that the Intendant has a wife, whom he
keeps in the seclusion of Beaumanoir. Is that true?"

The words burnt like fire. Angelique's eyes flashed out daggers.
She clenched her delicate hands until her nails drew blood from her
velvet palms. Her frame quivered with suppressed passion. She
grasped her companion fiercely by the arm, exclaiming,--"You have
hit the secret now, Amelie! It was to speak of that I sought you
out this morning, for I know you are wise, discreet, and every way
better than I. It is all true what I have said, and more too,
Amelie. Listen! The Intendant has made love to me with pointed
gallantry that could have no other meaning but that he honorably
sought my hand. He has made me talked of and hated by my own sex,
who envied his preference of me. I was living in the most gorgeous
of fool's paradises, when a bird brought to my ear the astounding