"_J'ai apprivoisé le prêtre_," she observed laughingly to Carter. "I have assured myself a firm friend in his reverence. He will defend me the character always. He has asked me to visit his family, and promised to call to see me at New York. Madame La Prêtresse is to call also. He is quite capable of praying me to stand godmother to his next child. If he were not married, I should have an offer. I believe I could bring him to elope with me in a fortnight." "Why don't you?" asked Carter. "It would make a scandal that would amuse you," he added somewhat bitterly, for he was at times disgusted by her heartlessness. "No, my dear," she replied gently, pressing his arm. "I am quite satisfied with my one conquest. It is all I desire in the world." They were leaning against the taffrail, listening to the gurgling of the waters in the luminous wake and watching the black lines of the masts waving against the starlit sky. "You are silent," she observed. "Why are you so sad?" "I am thinking of my wife," he replied, almost sullenly. "Poor Lillie! I wish she were here," said Mrs. Larue. "My God! what a woman you are!" exclaimed the Colonel. "Don't you know that I should be ashamed to look her in the face?" "My dear, why do you distress yourself so? You can love her still. I am not exacting. I only want a corner in your heart. If I might, I would demand the whole; but I know I could not have it. You ought not to be unhappy; that is my part in the drama. I have sacrificed much. What have you sacrificed? A man risks nothing, loses nothing, in these affairs _du coeur_. He has a bonne fortune, _voilà tout_."