"Because I am immensely rich, must I be married only for my money?
"Am I doomed to the misery of such a marriage, the indifference, contempt, hatred, perhaps, that are sure to follow when a man is mean enough to wed a woman merely for mercenary motives?
"Oh, mother, the thought is so horrible that it haunts me continually. I can not drive it away, strive as I may.
"So I have resolved to escape from it at the cost of a dangerous, perhaps fatal experiment.
"I have been induced to make this resolve because it seemed to be the only means of satisfying my cruel doubts, not only in regard to others, but myself as well. I must know once for all what I really am, and what I really appear to be, independent of my fortune.
"Satisfied on this point, I shall easily be able to distinguish the true from the false. But how am I to ascertain what I am? How am I to discover my precise value, so to speak? Whom can I ask? Who will be frank enough to separate the young girl from the heiress in his valuation?
"Besides, would such a verdict, however severe or kindly it might be, satisfy and rea.s.sure me entirely?
"No, I must have the verdict of several disinterested parties.
"But where can I find any such persons? After a great deal of thought, I have decided upon this plan.
"Madame Laine was telling me about a week ago of some little entertainments that one of her friends gives every Sunday. I have sought and found, this evening, a way to attend one of these reunions in company with my governess, but ostensibly as a relative of hers, a young orphan who supports herself by her daily toil, like all the other young people who compose the company.
"There no one will know me. What they really think of me will be shown conclusively by the reception given me. The rare perfections with which I am endowed--according to those around me--have had such a sudden and irresistible effect, they say, upon them, and upon the husbands they have picked out for me,--in short, I produce such a sensation at all the a.s.semblies I frequent, that I am anxious to see if I shall prove equally irresistible to the young people at Madame Herbaut"s modest entertainment.
"If I do not, I shall know that I have been basely deceived, and there is little danger that I shall ever endanger my future happiness by fixing my choice upon either of the suitors attracted solely by cupidity.
"I am also resolved to find some means of escaping the snares that seem to surround me on every side.
"What means I do not know. Alas! alone in the world as I am, in whom can I confide? In whom can I trust?
"In G.o.d and in you, my mother. I shall obey all the inspirations you send me, as I obey this, for, strange as it may appear, I cannot divest myself of the idea that this did come from you. At all events, it had its origin in a wise and n.o.ble sentiment,--a desire to know the truth, however disheartening it may be.
"So to-morrow, I am resolved to attend the reunion at Madame Herbaut"s house."
So the next day, Mlle. de Beaumesnil, having feigned indisposition, and having escaped the a.s.siduous attentions of the Rochaigues by a firm refusal to admit them to her room, left the house soon after nightfall, accompanied by her governess, and, taking a cab some distance from the mansion, was driven to Madame Herbaut"s house.
END OF VOLUME I.
THE SEVEN CARDINAL SINS
PRIDE--CONTINUED
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Gerald rushed in like one distracted"]
Pride--One of the Seven Cardinal Sins.
_ILl.u.s.tRATED WITH ETCHINGS BY ADRIAN MARCEL._
_BY EUGENE SUE_
_IN TWO VOLUMES_
_VOLUME II._
CONTENTS.
Vol. II.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MADAME HERBAUT"S PARTY 13
II. THE d.u.c.h.eSS ENTERTAINS ERNESTINE 23
III. A BOLD QUESTION 33
IV. REASON a.s.sERTS ITSELF 43
V. A CONSUMING FEVER OF LOVE 53
VI. A DELICATE MISSION 61
VII. GOOD NEWS 71
VIII. A STARTLING REVELATION 82
IX. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 91
X. DESPAIR 99
XI. THE BALL 107
XII. M. DE MACREUSE OVERDOES THE MATTER 118
XIII. AN HONEST CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL 131
XIV. VILLAINY UNMASKED 141
XV. THE PROSPECTIVE MINISTER"S DEFEAT 151