“Those spring days at Chateau d’Or were very pleasant ones, for Anna was buoyed up with the hope of escape from the man who grew each day more and more detestable and terrible to her. His evident admiration for Eugenie, which he did not try to conceal, would alone have made her hate him had there been no other cause. But Eugenie’s infatuation for him was ended, and though she had no fear or dread of him in her heart, like Anna, she had no liking for him, and only feigned to tolerate him until she had achieved her revenge, for with her it was nothing more than that. She was not a woman of good or firm principles of any kind, and with the right or wrong she did not trouble herself, but she had loved her young sister with an all-absorbing love, and if she could do aught to harm the man who had wrought her sister’s ruin she was resolved to do it; so she lingered at the chateau and professed herself so much in love with Anna and the child that she could not endure the thought of a separation from them, and only decided at the last to return to Paris on condition that Anna should be allowed to visit her sometime in June or July. And to this Haverleigh consented, and said he would himself come down from Paris for her when she was ready for the journey. But this was no part of Eugenie’s plan. When Anna left Chateau d’Or she must leave it without other escort than her brother, and of her ability to manage this she constantly reassured Anna, who grew so excited and anxious that she sank into a kind of nervous fever, which confined her to her room when Eugenie at last said good-by, and started for Paris with Haverleigh. CHAPTER XI. THE ESCAPE. “A letter had been received at the chateau to the effect that Anna was to be ready to go to Paris the following week, with her baby and nurse, and that her husband would come down to accompany her. It would be impossible to describe Anna’s state of mind at the receipt of this letter, while Madame Verwest, who had been taken fully into her confidence, seemed for a time as bewildered and nervous as Anna herself. Then she rallied, and astonished Anna and Fred by declaring her intention to go with them. “‘What, go to America?’ Anna asked; and madame replied: “‘Yes, to America. I have long wished to see it, and cannot be separated from the baby. I will go with you;’ and from this decision she never wavered, but went calmly on with her few preparations, while Anna waited anxiously for the telegram which Eugenie had promised to send her, and which came the day after the receipt of Haverleigh’s letter, and was as follows: “‘You are to come at once, instead of waiting till next week, and monsieur will meet you at Avignon. EUGENIE.’”