Jacqueline -- Volume 3

e parties fought with swords. The seconds of M. de Cymier were the Prince de Moelk and M. d'Etaples, captain in the -th Hussars; those of M. d'Argy Hub

g the very slight cause of the quarrel-an altercation at the Cercl

covert, her eyes and ears on the alert, watching for the least sign of alarm, in fear and trembling. She expected something, she knew n

a carriage! Quick! Oh, my God, it

ctacles upon her nose to read the paragraph. "Monsieur Fred wounded! Holy Virgin! His poor mother! That is a new troub

apping her head in a veil, Modeste, with the best intentions, w

derstand? You are so stupid! What could they have had to quarrel about but me

the many stairs that l

er feet hardly touchin

ore slowly, crying: "W

mois

at this was a repetition of that dreadful day, when with Modeste, just as now, she went to meet an irreparable loss. She seemed to see before her her dead father- he looked like Fred, and now, as before, Marien had his part in the tragedy. Could he not hav

ouse, where probably they cursed her very name. She would wait in the street with the carriage-blinds pulled down, and Modeste should go in and ask for information. Five minutes passed-ten minutes passed-the

t that moment Modeste appeared, brandishing the umbrella that she carried instead of a stick, in a manner that meant

deste? Speak!-Why have

had something else to

son there-they were w

iage, Mademoiselle, or

ple there who know yo

tap

?-The truth! Te

ratch-Ah! Madame that's only my way of talking. He will be laid up for a for

rtnight in which we may interfere-But how-Oh, how?-A

possible to the Rue Barbet- de-Jouy. This ti

a Comtess

hour. I wish to see her on imp

ounter another refusal from a footman, who insis

me. Go and tell her

lle

tman went in to inquire, and came

esse can not se

and it is natural. I have no friends left. No one

bly find out the true cause of the duel. Nearly all related the event in almost the exact terms used by the Figaro. Ah!-here was a different one! A reporter who knew something more added, in Gil Blas: "We have stated the cause of the dispute as it has been given to the p

d on, as she well knew. Several times it had come to her hand and she had not opened it, remembering what her father had always said of its reputation. But where would she be more likely to f

ved in peace

soon succee

they say, ki

ed the proud

ndals. M. de C--- was enlarging on the somewhat Bohemian character of the establishment of a lovely foreign lady, who possesses the secret of being always surrounded by delightful friends, young ladies who are self-emancipated, quasi- widows who, by divorce suits, have regained their liberty, etc. He was speaking of one of the beauties who are friends

s tissue of lies, insinuations, and half-truths. What did the paper mean its readers to understand by its account? Was it a jealous rivalry between herself and Madame Strahlberg?-Was M. de Cymier meant by

ght die. She was dropping off to sleep at last, overpowered by fatigue, when

nk she is s

e voice o

ace pale, her eyelids red, her complexion clouded, she rushed to meet her friend, who was almost as much diso

epelled her with a gesture so severe that the poor child could not but understand its meaning. She murmur

r husband nor your brother, and who consequently was under no obligation to defend you, has been fooli

acqueline, as if she d

nd's hand, she forcibl

matter to me," she crie

he has never

efenders," said Giselle, tearing

your own sake, it would have been better he shou

t be that you t

ce aflame. "A little more and Monsieur de Cymi

e, hiding her face in her hands

ther; to make them suffer, or to make fools o

quette," said Jacquel

n Fred so seldom, and Tonquin had so changed him that he spoke in his presence

ge suggested to him, no

, you must listen.

of what had happened to her since she left Fresne. She told of her meeting with Wanda; of the fatal evening which had resulted in her expulsion from the convent; her disgust at the Sparks f

just as she had been, a poor, proud child who had set out to battle for herself in a dangerous world. At every step she had been more and more conscious of her own imprudence, of her own we

e I am coming back to my old ideas-you remember how I once wished to end my days in the cell of a Carmelite? You might love me again then, perhaps, and Fred and poor Madame d'Argy, who must feel so bitterly against me since her son was wounded, might forgive me. No o

od; in her grief and humiliation she belonged to the

ll you?" asked Giselle, with a s

uld not say at present whet

I," sai

et with tears, which she had bee

rth," she said. "I could teach children their letters. I should not mind doing anything. I never should compla

lle, wiping her friend's eyes almost as a mother m

s cheeks be

m when he is quite old, when he has been long married, and when everything concerning me is a thing of the past. I never had loved any one with all my heart up to the momen

shall be proud of that all the rest of my

selle was melte

moment-I was harsh to you; and I have so little right to blame you! But come! Providence may have arra

d the meaning of her last words. But joy and peace came back to Jacqueline