All the feelings that I have had the happiness to express to you are sincere.

A hope dawned on me in Paris when your father told me he was comparatively poor,--but now that all is lost, now that nothing is left for me but endless regrets, why should I stay here where all is torture?
Let me carry away with me one smile to live forever in my heart." "Monsieur," answered Modeste, who seemed cold and absent-minded, "I am not the mistress of this house; but I certainly should deeply regret to retain any one where he finds neither pleasure nor happiness." She left La Briere and took Madame Dumay's arm to re-enter the house.

A few moments later all the actors in this domestic scene reassembled in the salon, and were a good deal surprised to see Modeste sitting beside the Duc d'Herouville and coquetting with him like an accomplished Parisian woman.

She watched his play, gave him the advice he wanted, and found occasion to say flattering things by ranking the merits of noble birth with those of genius and beauty.

Canalis thought he knew the reason of this change; he had tried to pique Modeste by calling marriage a catastrophe, and showing that he was aloof from it; but like others who play with fire, he had burned his fingers.