"Well, we must part, my good nurse," she continued. "Embrace me as you used to do when I was a child, you know, in the old, old happy days." While Aloyse, unable to utter a word, held Diane close to her breast,-- "Oh, watch over him! take good care of him!" she said in the nurse's ear. "As I did when he was a child, in the old, old happy days," said Aloyse. "Oh, better, even better, Aloyse! In that time he was not in such sore need." Diane left the house without having met Gabriel, and half an hour later she was safely in her apartments at the Louvre. But if she had no reason to feel disturbed at the result of the hazardous step she had taken, her anguish and dread on the subject of Gabriel's unknown designs were even greater than before. The forebodings of a woman's loving heart are apt to be only too accurate forecasts of the future. Gabriel did not return home until the day was well advanced. The heat was intense, and he was wearied in body and mind. But when Aloyse uttered Diane's name and told of her visit, he stood erect with new life, his chest heaving and his heart throbbing. "What did she want? What did she say? What did she do? Oh, why was I not here? Come, tell me everything, Aloyse,--every word, every movement." He took his turn at questioning the nurse, hardly giving her time to reply. "She wants to see me?" he cried. "She has something to say to me? And she doesn't know when she may be able to come again? Oh, Aloyse, Aloyse, I cannot wait in such uncertainty! surely you can see that. I shall go to the Louvre at once." "To the Louvre! Oh, Heaven preserve us!" ejaculated Aloyse, in terror. "Yes, to be sure," replied Gabriel, calmly. "I am not banished from the Louvre, so far as I know; and the man who had the honor of restoring Madame de Castro to liberty at Calais surely has the right to pay his respects to her in Paris." "Of course," said Aloyse, trembling like a leaf; "but Madame de Castro was very particular to say that you were not to come to the Louvre to see her." "Have I anything to fear there?" said Gabriel, proudly. "That would be one reason more for me to go." "No," replied the nurse; "it was probably on her own account that Madame de Castro feared your coming." "Her reputation would suffer much more from a secret and surreptitious action, if discovered, than from a public visit in broad daylight, such as I propose to pay,--such as I will pay her to-day, at this moment." He called for a servant to bring him a change of clothes. "But, Monseigneur," said poor Aloyse, at the end of her arguments, "Madame de Castro herself has remarked that you have shunned the Louvre hitherto. You have not thought best to go there once since your return."