"Madame, the fact is, I must be plain with you. If I mix myself further in this frightful affair, as you justly term it, I must lay my account with serious perils. Men do not run their heads into mischief for nothing; and, therefore, if I act as your champion, I must be accepted as your lover also." "Oh, Monsieur de Blassemare, you cannot be serious!--you will not be so inhuman as to desert me!" "By my faith, madame, the age of knight-errantry is over--nothing for nothing is the ruling principle of our own prosaic day. To be plain with you, I can't afford to quarrel with Le Prun for nothing; and, if you persist in refusing my services, I must only make it up with him as best I can; and of course you return to the Chateau des Anges." "I can't believe you, Monsieur de Blassemare; I won't believe you. You are a gentleman--kind, honorable, humane." "Gad!--so I am, madame; but I am no professed redresser of wrongs. I never interpose between husband and wife--or those who pass for such--without a sufficient motive. Now, Monsieur Le Prun believes I have gone down to his estate at Lyons, but he will have intelligence of your flight to-day, and he will learn, in a few days more, that _I_ have also disappeared. The fact is, my complicity can't remain a secret long. You see, madame, I must take my course promptly. It altogether rests with you to decide what it shall be. But you are fatigued and excited: don't pronounce in too much haste. Consider your position, and I shall have the honor to present myself again in the course of the afternoon." She did not attempt to detain him, or, indeed, to reply. Her thoughts were too distracted. Lucille, alone once more, became a prey to the terror of another visit from the so-called Madame Le Prun, whose ill-omened approaches had inspired her with so much terror on the night preceding.