Beauvouloir divined all.
"Monseigneur," he said, "your mind and your knowledge can make you eloquent, and the force of your love may be irresistible.

Declare it to monseigneur the duke; you will thus confirm my letter.

All is not lost, I think.

I love my daughter as well as you love her, and I shall defend her." Etienne shook his head.
"The sea was very dark to-night," he repeated.
"It was like a sheet of gold at our feet," said Gabrielle in a voice of melody.
Etienne ordered lights, and sat down at a table to write to his father.
On one side of him knelt Gabrielle, silent, watching the words he wrote, but not reading them; she read all on Etienne's forehead.

On his other side stood old Beauvouloir, whose jovial countenance was deeply sad,--sad as that gloomy chamber where Etienne's mother died.