But Clementine's aunt, the austere Mlle.

Sambucco, thought that it was time to show her authority.

She stretched out her big, wrinkled hands, seized Fougas, jerked him sharply to his feet, and cried in her shrillest voice: "Enough, sir; it is time to put an end to this scandalous farce! My niece is not for you; I have promised her and given her away.

Know that, day after to-morrow, the 19th of this month, at ten o'clock in the morning, she will marry M.Leon Renault, your benefactor!" "And I forbid it--do you hear, Madame Aunt?
And if she pretends to marry this boy----" "What will you do ?" "I'll curse her!" Leon could not help laughing.

The malediction of this twenty-five-year-old Colonel appeared rather more comic than terrible.
But Clementine grew pale, burst into tears, and fell, in her turn, at the feet of Fougas.
"Monsieur," cried she, kissing his hands, "do not overwhelm a poor girl who venerates you, who loves you, who will sacrifice her happiness if you demand it! By all the marks of tenderness which I have lavished upon you for a month, by the tears I have poured upon your coffin, by the respectful zeal with which I have urged on your resuscitation, I conjure you to pardon our offences.