By the way in which she rushed to meet him, he thought she was about to announce some irreparable misfortune.

But no--she took his hand, and, without uttering a word, she led him to her son's chamber.
The condition of the poor youth was really very critical; the abbe perceived this at a glance, but it was not hopeless.
"We will get him out of this," he said, with a smile that reawakened hope.
And with the coolness of an old practitioner, he bled him freely, and ordered applications of ice to his head.
In a moment all the household were busied in fulfilling the cure's orders.

He took advantage of the opportunity to draw the baron aside in the embrasure of a window.
"What has happened ?" he asked.
"A disappointment in love," M.d'Escorval replied, with a despairing gesture.

"Monsieur Lacheneur has refused the hand of his daughter, which I asked in behalf of my son.

Maurice was to have seen Marie-Anne to-day.
What passed between them I do not know.