"A promise, _ma tante_?" The girl's tone implied that she did not think she would give it. "You have played the part of fate in the life of this young man, who, I find, is a charming and brave man. Now you must stand by your guns, my dear Julia." "Why, how do you mean, _ma tante_?" "You will go to Paris and the Capitaine de Sabron will get well rapidly. He will follow you, and if it were not for Tremont, myself, your Red Cross Society and the presence here of Madame de la Maine, you would have been very much compromised. But never mind," said the Marquise d'Esclignac magnificently, "my name is sufficient protection for my niece. I am thinking solely of the poor young man." "Of Monsieur de Sabron?" "Of course," said the Marquise d'Esclignac tartly, "did you think I meant Robert? You have so well arranged _his_ life for him, my dear." "_Ma tante_," pleaded the girl. The marquise was merciless. "I want you to promise me, Julia, before you sail for home, that if Sabron follows us and makes you to understand that he loves you, as he will, that you will accept him." Julia Redmond looked at the Marquise d'Esclignac in astonishment. She half laughed and she half cried. "You want me to promise?" "I do," said her aunt firmly, regarding her niece through her lorgnon. "In the first place the affair is entirely unconventional and has been since we left France. It is I who should speak to the Capitaine de Sabron. You are so extremely rich that it will be a difficult matter for a poor and honorable young man.... Indeed, my dear, I may as well tell you that I shall do so when we reach home." "Oh," said the girl, turning perfectly pale and stepping forward toward her aunt, "if you consider such a thing I shall leave for America at once." The Marquise d'Esclignac gave a petulant sigh. "How impossible you are, Julia. Understand me, my dear, I do not want a woman of my family to be a coquette. I do not want it said that you are an American flirt--it is in bad taste and entirely misunderstood in the Faubourg St.-Germain." The girl, bewildered by her aunt's attitude and extremely troubled by the threat of the marriage convention, said: "Don't you understand? In this case it is peculiarly delicate. He might ask me from a sense of honor." "Not in any sense," said the Marquise d'Esclignac. "It has not occurred to the poor young officer to suppose for a moment that a young woman with millions, as you are so fortunate to be, would derange herself like this to follow him. If I thought so I would not have brought you, Julia. What I have done, I have done solely for your peace of mind, my child. This young man loves you. He believes that you love him, no doubt. You have given him sufficient reason, heaven knows! Now," said her aunt emphatically, "I do not intend that you should break his heart."