crash came, and my eyes were opened. Monsieur Duplat had persuaded me to stand security for an extravagant sum of money by which, as he said, he was to be made independent for life, and the day after he got it he decamped, leaving me in the lurch to meet all his liabilities as well as my own. The creditors swooped down upon me like birds of prey. I found that Duplat had procured valuables all over the town in my name, besides forging it for a large amount of ready money from my bankers, and I was literally ruined.’ ‘What an ingrate!’ I exclaimed. ‘Oh, monsieur! I am sure that, with your generous spirit, the ingratitude of it was the hardest part to bear.’ ‘It was not calculated to raise my opinion of human nature, mademoiselle, and when I thought of poor little Corinne, and how it would have broken her heart to see her father’s conduct to me, I was glad that she was safe in heaven, and freed from it all. My uncle came to Paris as soon as he knew of my ruin, and informed me that all idea of a marriage between _mademoiselle ma cousine_ and myself was at an end, which I was not sorry to hear. It was found that twelve years’ income would only suffice to discharge the debts for which I was liable; my estates in Versailles and Lausanne being entailed and consequently not marketable. I had the choice, therefore, of two alternatives—to expatriate myself to this place and live upon a yearly sum of six thousand francs allowed me by my creditors, or to go to gaol. I chose the former, though there is but little to choose between them. St. Pucelle is like a prison to me, and I have only vegetated since I came here. Conceive if you can, mademoiselle, the change from the life I led in Paris, and the solitude I now enjoy.’ ‘But it will not last for ever, monsieur. How many years have you lived at the château?’ ‘Nine. I was thirty on my last birthday.’ ‘Then the time of your probation will soon be up, will it not?’ ‘There are three or four years more to run. _Three or four years! Mon Dieu!_ what an eternity it seems in prospect!’ I hardly knew how to answer him. I longed so much to give him comfort, but if he could not see the lesson this trial was calculated to teach him in the same light that I did, I feared my words might irritate instead of soothe him. So I only said: ‘Monsieur le Baron, don’t despair! There is one person feels very deeply for you, and that is myself.’ ‘You do not despise me, then! You have heard all, and you can still be my friend.’ ‘Most certainly! You have been very weak, but you have not been wicked. The money you wasted was your own. It was that base ungrateful creature Duplat that caused your ruin.’ ‘Remember that I have told it you in confidence. Even Monsieur Beaupré does not know the extent to which he robbed me. He was Corinne’s father, and for her sake I wish, as far as possible, to spare him.’