Several times she approached her writing-table, and gazed earnestly at her inkstand; then, seized with a sudden scruple, she would move away.

At last she formed a resolute decision, seized her pen, and wrote the following lines: "MONSIEUR: Before setting out for Vienna, will you be so good as to come and pass some moments at Cormeilles?
I desire to have a conversation with you in the presence of my father.
"Accept, monsieur, I beg of you, the expression of my most profound esteem.
"ANTOINETTE MORIAZ." The next morning she received by the first mail the response she awaited, and which was thus fashioned: "This test would be more than my courage could endure.

I never shall see you again, for, should I do so, I would be a lost man." This short response caused Mlle.

Moriaz a disappointment full of bitterness, and blended with no little wrath.

She held in her hand a pencil, which she deliberately snapped in two, apparently to console herself for not having broken the proud and obstinate will of Count Abel Larinski.