The keeper, seeing how sincerely I felt for his misery, tells me that this great misfortune befell them only a week before my arrival.
"I know that man l'Aigle," I say; "he is a scoundrel.

Did he ask to marry Lucie ?" "No; he knew well enough that our consent would have been refused!" "I wonder at Lucie acting in such a way." "He seduced her, and her running away made us suspect the truth, for she had become very stout." "Had he known her long ?" "About a month after your last visit she saw him for the first time.

He must have thrown a spell over her, for our Lucie was as pure as a dove, and you can, I believe, bear testimony to her goodness." "And no one knows where they are ?" "No one.

God alone knows what this villain will do with her." I grieved as much as the unfortunate parents; I went out and took a long ramble in the woods to give way to my sad feelings.

During two hours I cogitated over considerations, some true, some false, which were all prefaced by an if.