She seemed to him to have undergone a complete change.

There was an unearthly style of beauty around her--her eyes blazed and shone with the lurid light of a far-distant planet, while her wealth of raven hair fell in disordered masses on her shoulders.

It was passion, real passion, that he beheld to-night, not that mere empty delusion which he had so long followed blindly.

Marie was really capable of a deep-rooted feeling of adoration for the man she loved, while with Diana de Mussidan, the woman with her fair hair and the steel-blue eyes, love was but the lust of conquest, or the desire to jeer at a suitor's earnestness.

Ah, what a revelation had been made to him now! And what would he not have given to have wiped out the past! He advanced towards her with outstretched arms.
"Marie!" said he, "Marie!" "I forbid you to call me Marie!" shrieked she wildly.
He made no reply, but still advanced towards her, when, with a terrible cry, she recoiled from him.
"Blood!" she screamed, "ah, heavens! he has blood upon his hands!" Norbert glanced downwards; upon the wristband of his shirt there was a tell-tale crimson stain.
The Duchess raised her hand, and pointed towards the door.
"Leave me," said she, with an extraordinary assumption of energy, "leave me; the secret of your crime is safe; I will not betray you or hand you over to justice.