The Lane That Had No Turning, Complete

ntiac, not Louis Racine. There it was in the will

d the fortune he brought her. It was the one thing that saved him from a dire humiliation; it was the vantage-ground from which he appealed to her respect, the flaming testimony of his own self-esteem. Every hour since his trouble had come upon him, since Madelinette's great fame had come to her, he had protested to himself that it was honour for honour; and every day he had laboured, sometimes how fantastically, how futilely! to dignify his position, to enhance his importance in her eyes. She had understood it all,

by the table under the hanging lamp, her face white as the loose

emy, who has every reason to exact from you the last tribute of humiliation, is Seigneur here!" How could she face the despair of the man whose life was one inward fever, one long illusion

He could never survive the humiliation. His sensitiveness was a disease, his pride was the only t

r of liberty. A candle was at her hand, the doors were shut, the blinds drawn, the house a frozen silence-how cold she was, thou

her heart beat quietly, if this paper were no more! The thought made her shri

w little she cared for it! One year of her voice could earn two such Seigneuries as this. And the honour-save that it was Pontiac-it was naught to her. In all her life she had never done or said a dishonourable thing. She had never lied,

ot exist, so far as himself was concerned. How easily could it all be made right some day! She felt as though she were suffocating, and she opened the window a little very softly. Then she lit the candle tremblingly, watched

clover fields came through the open doors and windows, and her mind had kept repeating mechan

ew, which was filled with the richness of a blessed harvest and the plenitude

nt click of the spring as she closed the panel seemed terribly loud to her. She started and looked timorously round. The blood ca

; he was murmuring her name. With a breaking sigh she crept into be

ep. She dreamed that she was in prison

find Louis at

seigneurial court