"Nothing more easily explained, monseigneur,--forgive me the comparison,--but, as certain men have a joyous and benevolent intoxication, so you have good and generous love." "Still, my hatred of the wicked has become more intense; my aversion for Sarah increases, in proportion, no doubt, to the grief I experience at my daughter's death. I imagine to myself that that wretched mother must have neglected her, and that, when once her ambitious hopes were ruined by my marriage, the countess, in her pitiless selfishness, abandoned our daughter to mercenary hands, and, perhaps, my child died from actual neglect. It is my fault, also. I did not then think of the sacred duties which paternity imposes. When Sarah's real character was suddenly revealed to me, I ought instantly to have taken my daughter from her, and watched over her with love and anxiety. I ought to have foreseen that the countess would make but a very unnatural mother. It is my fault,--yes, indeed, my fault." "Monseigneur, grief distracts you! Could you, after the sad event you know of, delay for a day the long journey imposed on you, as--" "As an expiator! You are right, my friend," said Rodolph, greatly agitated. "You have not heard anything of the Countess Sarah since my departure, monseigneur?" "No; since those infamous plots which twice nearly destroyed Madame d'Harville, I have heard nothing of her. Her presence here is hateful to me,--oppresses me; it seems as though my evil demon was near me, and some new misfortune threatens me." "Patience, patience, monseigneur! Fortunately Germany is forbidden ground to her, and Germany awaits us." "Yes, we shall go very soon. At least, during my short residence in Paris, I shall have accomplished a sacred vow, and have made some steps in the meritorious path which an august and merciful will has traced for my redemption. As soon as Madame Georges's son is restored to her tender arms, free and innocent; as soon as Jacques Ferrand shall be convicted and punished for his crimes; as soon as I am assured of the good prosperity of all the honest and hard-working creatures who, by their resignation, courage, and probity, have deserved my interest, we will return to Germany, and then my journey will not have been wholly unfruitful." "Particularly if you achieve the exposure of that abominable wretch, Jacques Ferrand, monseigneur,--the angular stone, the pivot on which turn so many crimes." "Although the end justifies the means, and scruples with such a scoundrel are absurd, yet I sometimes regret that I have allowed Cecily to become an instrument in working out this just and avenging reparation." "She ought to be here very shortly." "She has arrived." "Cecily?" "Yes; I refused to see her. De Grauen has given her ample instructions, and she has promised to comply with them." "Will she keep that promise?"