"By heaven! I love that woman as I never loved in my life." "Then why ..." "I'll tell you why--or, at least, I will tell you as much as I may--as I can; for the affair is hers, and not mine.

She has a cousin--curse him!--to whom she was betrothed from childhood.

His estates adjoined hers; family interests were concerned in their union; and the parents on both sides arranged matters.

When, however, Monsieur de Courcelles fell in love with her--a man much older than herself, but possessed of great wealth and immense political influence--her father did not hesitate to send the cousin to the deuce and marry his daughter to the Minister of Finance.

The cousin, it seems, was then a wild young fellow; not particularly in love with her himself; and not at all inconsolable for her loss.