Monseigneur shook from trembling as he repeated severely the word, "Never!" He had pledged himself to the Voincourts, and he would never break his engagement with them.

Then Felicien, quite discouraged, realising that he was very angry, went away, fearing lest the rush of blood, which empurpled his cheeks, might make him commit the sacrilege of an open revolt against paternal authority.
"My child," concluded Hubertine, "you can easily understand that you must no longer think of this young man, for you certainly would not wish to act in opposition to the wishes of Monseigneur.

I knew that beforehand, but I preferred that the facts should speak for themselves, and that no obstacle should appear to come from me." Angelique had listened to all this calmly, with her hands listlessly clasped in her lap.

Scarcely had she even dropped her eyelids from time to time, as with fixed looks she saw the scene so vividly described--Felicien at the feet of Monseigneur, speaking of her in an overflow of tenderness.

She did not answer immediately, but continued to think seriously, in the dead quiet of the kitchen, where even the little bubbling sound of the water in the boiler was no longer heard.