"I suppose," said the lady disdainfully, "that this is only a half-truth. Whether your gallantries relate to this girl or to some other is a matter having no interest for me. What I demand to know is this: Have you pledged your word?" René raised himself on his elbow and answered: "If Amélie consents, we shall be married." The tempest following this announcement and the ensuing days of conflict still lived vividly in the mind of the Marquis as the bitterest experience of his life, especially that occasion when the Duchess ordered her carriage for the purpose of interviewing Amélie. She took this resolution after receiving from Court a letter which seemed to throw her into a violent agitation. On reaching the mill, she demanded to see Amélie, who appeared with a quiet air of unconcern. The Duchess stared at her and seemed almost petrified, not mentioning her son. After some incoherent phrases, she stammered that the object of her visit was to look upon so beautiful a girl. On taking leave, she bowed obsequiously, her customary aplomb having been transformed into something very like the confusion of a raw peasant. The miller was ordered to accompany her home and, on reaching the castle, they were closeted together for over two hours. On leaving the apartment, Adhemar staggered like one drunk with wine and the Duchess flung herself in rage into a chair. That afternoon two journeys were begun; Adhemar accompanied Amélie to Calais and the Duchess forced her son to go with her to Paris. O those first days of separation! The Marquis shut the door upon the friends who had been his life-long associates. He wished only to be in London, reunited to Amélie, but, not knowing her address, to find her would be impossible. At last a letter from her, forwarded by Adhemar, gave him the needed information. He was about to set out when a slow fever fastened upon him and kept him in bed for three months. He did not tell Amélie of his condition, fearing to alarm her. His letters were brief, but they breathed an unswerving devotion. When returning health sent the impetuous blood of youth through his veins, he declared to his mother an unalterable determination to persist in his love for the stranger girl. Then it was that, like a bomb exploding at his feet, these ominous words fell from the lips of the Duchess: