I, alas! see it too well, and my brother is as wax in monsieur's
hands. Juste loves Lucie Lotbiniere--that should make him kind.
She, sweet friend, does not desert me, but is kept from me. She
says she will not yield to Juste's suit until he yields to me.
If--oh, if Madame Jamond had not gone to Montreal!

...As I was writing the foregoing sentence, my father asked to
see me, and we have had a talk--ah, a most bitter talk!

"Alixe," said he, "this is our last evening together, and I
would have it peaceful."

"My father," said I, "it is not my will that this evening be our
last; and for peace, I long for it with all my heart."

He frowned, and answered, "You have brought me trouble and
sorrow. Mother of God! was it not possible for you to be as
your sister Georgette? I gave her less love, yet she honours
me more."

"She honours you, my father, by a sweet, good life, and by marriage
into an honourable family, and at your word she gives her hand to
Monsieur Auguste de la Darante. She marries to your pleasure,
therefore she has peace and your love. I marry a man of my own
choosing, a bitterly wronged gentleman, and you treat me as some
wicked thing. Is that like a father who loves his child?"

"The wronged gentleman, as you call him, invaded that which is
the pride of every honest gentleman," he said.