“I should doubt it too, Marie, did I see any cause which should lead him to break it. But the match is in all respects more desirable for him than it is for us; for, though Mademoiselle d’Argenson is noble, rich, and handsome, the viscount de Douarnenez might be well justified in looking for a wife far higher than the daughter of a simple sieur of Bretagne. Besides, although the children loved before any one spoke of it--before any one saw it, indeed, save I--it was D’Argenson himself who broke the subject. What, then, should induce him to play false?” “I do not know; yet I doubt--I fear him.” “But that, Marie, is unworthy of your character--of your mind.” “Louis, she is _too_ beautiful!” “I do not think Raoul will find fault with her on that score.” “Nor would one greater than Raoul.” “Whom do you mean?” cried the count, now for the first time startled. “I have seen eyes fixed upon her in deadly admiration, which never admire but they pollute the object of their admiration.” “The king’s, Marie?” “The king’s!” “And then--?” “And then I have heard it whispered that the baron de Beaulieu has asked her hand of the sieur d’Argenson.” “The baron de Beaulieu! and who the devil is the baron de Beaulieu, that the sieur d’Argenson should doubt for the nine hundredth part of a minute between him and the viscount de Douarnenez for the husband of his daughter?” “The baron de Beaulieu, count, is the very particular friend, the right-hand man, and most private minister, of his most Christian majesty King Louis XV.” “Ha! is it possible? Do you mean that--” “I mean even _that_--if, by that, you mean all that is most infamous and loathsome on the part of Beaulieu, all that is most licentious on the part of the king. I believe--nay, I am well-nigh sure--that there is such a scheme of villany on foot against that sweet, unhappy child; and therefore would I pause ere I urged too far my child’s love toward her, lest it prove most unhappy and disastrous.” “And do you think D’Argenson capable--” exclaimed her husband-- “Of anything,” she answered, interrupting him, “of anything that may serve his avarice or his ambition.” “Ah! it may be so. I will look to it, Marie; I will look to it narrowly. But I fear that, if it be as you fancy, it is too late already; that our boy’s heart is devoted to her entirely; that any break now, in one word, would be a heart-break!” “He loves her very dearly, beyond doubt,” replied the lady; “and she deserves it all, and is, I think, very fond of him likewise.” “And can you suppose for a moment that she will lend herself to such a scheme of infamy?” “Never! She would die sooner.”