The princess Julie put this hastily-written letter into the roll of lace, and Martha carried it back to Madelaine, telling her that the princess thought it not fine enough. Informed of Mlle. de Soissons's determination, the Marquis sent Jerome Sicard to examine the locality. The walls of the cloister were very high, but surrounded by desert marshes. They could easily be scaled. Unhappily, the preparations indispensable to this enterprise would not permit the Marquis to attempt it until the night of the next day. For the first time he feared death, for he reflected that his duel must precede his interview with Mlle. de Soissons. He passed a night of painful agitation. His sleep was troubled by strange dreams. When he arose, he felt feeble and depressed. For the first time it occurred to him that perhaps he was a victim to contagion and his devotion to Louis XV. In fact, his physician recognized the alarming symptoms of confluent small-pox; but the disease would not be developed before the next day. Moved by an over-nice sense of honor, and contrary to the advice of his two seconds, the Marquis, notwithstanding his weakness, insisted on fighting with the Baron of Ugeon that very day. At quarter past three, the meeting took place. The friends of the Marquis, seeing his feverish color and his weakness, believed it their duty, without consulting Létorière, to appeal to the courtesy of M. d'Ugeon, and request him to put off the duel. But a cruel and offensive word from M. d'Ugeon, at the suggestion of this new delay, having rendered an adjustment impossible, the combat began. Létorière fenced with superior force; his bravery was unquestionable; but the rapid approach of disease had weakened him so seriously, that he lost all his advantages, and received a sword-thrust directly in his breast. The seconds carried him home, and left him to the care of poor Dominique. CHAPTER XX THE ABBEY Eleven o'clock had just struck in the cloisters of the abbey of Montmartre. The night was stormy; the heavens gray and veiled, notwithstanding the brightness of the moon, which peeped out at long intervals beneath dank clouds rent by the wind. In order to reach the chapel, Mlle. de Soissons was obliged, after leaving her apartment, to cross an open gallery, whose arches opened on one of the interior courts of the abbey.