“It is about that I have news for you. The Duke is considering your request to him and will wait upon you here at Malincourt, to-morrow. He is a staunch friend to you, Gabrielle, and your lightest word has weight with him.” “He should need no one’s word to induce him to do justly,” she said. “He grinds the face of the people with his hideous tyranny.” “You have this influence with him and can best use it in the people’s cause. That is a great thought for you to ponder. You will not do best for them by incensing it, but rather by leading him to see these things as you see them.” He watched her very closely as he said this in his gentlest and most persuasive tone. “But I despise him,” she said with a shudder. “I loathe him, indeed.” “In this world we cannot choose the means we would, but must use those which lie to our hands. Yours is a heavy load of responsibility for such young shoulders to bear, my child. The head of a great house, alone with none to advise save an unworthy old man who has wearied of the affairs of the world, and with the cares of an army of suffering people to plague and oppress you. Let us hope that your marriage will prove the relief it should. Gerard de Cobalt should be here to-day or to-morrow. Pray Heaven he carries a steady head on worthy shoulders--as indeed I hear he does.” Gabrielle sighed and lifted and let fall her hand; a half-despairing gesture suggestive of her distracted thoughts. “You should be all smiles, Gabrielle. My dear sister, your mother, and your father, too, built so much upon this marriage. The Governor also is profoundly interested in it, and will welcome your husband and give him an honoured place in his favour and esteem. You two are destined to do great things for Morvaix.” “Please God it may be so,” returned Gabrielle earnestly. “But to take a husband I have never seen is----” The sentence ended in another gesture as hopeless as the first. “I have made many searching inquiries concerning him, Gabrielle. A handsome gallant and as brave and fearless as comely.” “It may be for the best,” she said lifelessly. “It must and will be for the best,” he returned. “To-morrow you will hear from the Duke how he proposes to honour the man of your choice.” “Choice?” echoed Gabrielle, catching at the word. “Yes, choice; what else? Whom else in Morvaix would you choose? You would not choose to disobey your dear mother’s last earthly wish. And the obligations of a girl placed as you are at the head of a house such as ours might well have compelled a marriage with a far less welcome groom. I could tell you of scores of such ill-fated unions. Keep a light heart, child; for you may face the future fearlessly--a brilliant future too.” “I am foolish and rebellious at times, I know. But I am not unmindful of my duty to my house,” she said proudly.