But will Marie ever consent to leave her? However, it must be done! If Marie will follow me, what a future! We would retire to some solitary place, where I would spend the rest of my life at her side. Though I am young, I have seen so much of life, I have suffered so much, I have learned so much about men and things, and have been so weary of them, that it would be rapture to me, this solitary and peaceful life of trusting love. And besides she has in herself so many resources that fit her for such a life of isolation: heart, soul, mind, artistic talents, an angelic disposition, adorable simplicity, the imagination of a young girl who can please, occupy, or amuse herself with the veriest trifle. She must follow me, she will follow me. CHAPTER XXX THE FLIGHT SERVAL, 10th March, 18--. I open again this journal which I have not written a line in for three months. I wish to write one more date, one last page here at Serval, in this poor old paternal château that I am about to leave, perhaps, for ever. Strange coincidence! It was here that my mundane life began with my love for Hélène. It is here my mundane life is to end with my love for Marie. Henceforth she and I mean to live in the greatest seclusion. Oh, if we are only able to realise our dreams, our life will be one of enchantment. But by how many cruel trials it will have been purchased. For three months Marie has been weeping in secret! but little by little I have been able to overcome her resistance. At last she has consented to fly with me. Besides, she dare not, she cannot, remain here; she is about to become a mother! And now, my faithful George, who has been living in Nantes to keep a watch on Duvallon, wrote me this morning that a man I cannot fail to recognise as Belmont arrived last night at the house of the old corsair. I told Marie of his return, and then she decided. How would she dare to appear before her husband? And how could she bear the reproaches of her aunt? To-morrow night, then, we are to depart secretly. So as to be sure of no mistakes, let me set down what I have arranged to do. Send relays of horses before me as far as ----, across the country, so as to leave no traces; it is twenty-five leagues shorter. Take the mail coach at ----, and in thirty hours we will be at the frontier. Once outside of France, and the first noise of our elopement calmed, we will wait to see what happens. Perhaps we will return, perhaps Belmont will be arrested. DOUX REPOS, September, 18--. You have asked me, Marie, to tell you the story of my whole life. We have broken off all connection with the world. Retired from society, here in this peaceful and charming abode, we have been living for two years with our dear child, and ineffably happy. You have been my angel, my saviour, my god, my love, my only treasure, because you possess all the riches of heart, mind, and soul.