It seemed to Norbert as if he was imprisoned in one of those iron dungeons he had read of, which slowly contracted day by day, and at last crushed their victims to atoms.

He saw Diana married to the Viscount de Mussidan, and compelled to meet daily the man who knew all about her illicit meetings with her former lover, and who had more than once, when Norbert was unable to leave Champdoce, been intrusted with a letter or a message for her.

And how would Montlouis behave under the circumstances?
Would he possess the necessary tact and coolness to carry him through so difficult a position?
What would be the end of this cruel concatenation of circumstances?
Would Diana be able to endure the compromising witness of her youthful error?
She would eagerly seek out some pretext for his dismissal; he could easily detect this, and in his anger at the loss of a position which he had long desired, would turn on her and repeat the whole story.

Should Montlouis let loose his tongue, the Viscount, indignant at the imposition that had been practised upon him, would separate from his wife.

What would be Diana's conduct when she found herself left thus alone, and despised by the society of which she had hoped to be a queen?
Would she not, in her turn, seek to revenge herself on Norbert?
He had just asked himself whether at this juncture death would not be a blessing to him, when he caught sight of Francoise, the daughter of the Widow Rouleau, close by him.