"It is some diabolical intrigue," he said. "How can you help, my poor boy? No! but I would rather see her dead at my feet--for her own sake--and the insult to me!" "But tell me what it all means? Let me do something!" cried Angelot; for the words thrilled him with a new terror. He almost snatched the letter from his cousin's hand. "Yes, yes, read it. Oh, mon Dieu, mon Dieu!" Hervé groaned, and stamped his feet. The letter was written in very shaky characters, and Angelot had to hold it under one of the candle sconces on the wall. "My dear Comte:-- "You will receive to-morrow, I have reason to think, an Imperial recommendation--which means a command--to give Mademoiselle your daughter in marriage to General Ratoneau. If you see any way out of this dilemma, I need hardly advise you to take it. You would have been warned earlier of the danger, but circumstances have been too strong for me. My part in the affair I hope to explain. In the meanwhile believe in my sincere friendship, and burn this letter. "_De Mauves_." Angelot drew in his breath sharply. "Ah! The Prefect is good," he said. While he read the letter, his cousin was staring at him. Slowly, intently, yet with a sort of vague distraction, his eyes travelled over Angelot; the plain shooting clothes, so odd a contrast in that gay house, at that time of night, to his own elegant evening dress; the handsome, clear-cut, eager face, the young lips set with a man's firmness and energy. "I thought you were in prison," said Hervé. "I escaped from the police." "Why did they arrest you?" "I do not know. I believe it was a private scheme of that rascal Simon's--such things have happened." "Tell me all--and quickly." Angelot began to obey him, but after a few words broke off suddenly. "Uncle Hervé, what is the use of talking about me? What are you going to do? Let us think--yes, I have a plan. If you were to call my cousin Hélène quietly out of the ball-room to change her dress, I would have horses ready in the north wood, and I would ride with you at least part of the way to Le Mans. There you could get a post-chaise and drive to Paris. Place her safely in a convent, and go yourself to the Emperor--"