Mme.
Renault lectured him two full hours.

She told him that in the eyes of society, as well as in the eyes of the law, Clementine was the granddaughter of M.Langevin; that, moreover, M.Langevin had acted very liberally in legitimizing by marriage, a daughter that was not his own; finally, that the publication of such a family secret would be an outrage against the sanctity of the grave and would tarnish the memory of poor Clementine Pichon.

The Colonel answered with the warmth of a young man, and the obstinacy of an old one: "Nature has her rights; they are anterior to the conventions of society, and a thousand times more exalted.

The honor of her I called my AEgle, is dearer to me than all the treasures of the world, and I would cleave the soul of any rash being who should attempt to tarnish it.

In yielding to the ardor of my vows, she but conformed to the custom of a great epoch when the uncertainty of life and the constant existence of war simplified all formalities.