The Press., 1892-06-09
MADELAINE LERoUX.


 She sdt tlttrlkt,ly oUer eUery tpord thtIt he
 had said to her.
 Madelaiue left her aunt chatting with Madame Roussel and went up to her bed room. The girl felt dissatisfied with herself; it seemed ungrateful when so much amusement had been provided for her to feel discontented, and yet as soon as she reached the room which she was to share with her aunt she began to cry. What should she do, she asked herself, when she went back to Rouen, if Mon sieur Henri never came to see her, and he would not because he did not know her father and mother, and also because she had heard him tell her aunt that he must soon return to Paris. ''I wish l had never seen him, and then should not have cared" She. sat thinking over every word that he had said to her, and she remem- bered how strangely he had hinted at her trouble.
 "And yet he knew nothing about it, or he would not have asked me to tell him."
 The stairs creaked under her aunt's footsteps, and Madelaine quickly slipped on her dressing jacket and began to un- fasten her long, dark coils of hair. It occurred to her that tonight would be a good opportunity of asking her aunt's advice. She did not feel able to listen to Aunt Virginie's favorite subject-the praises of Monsieur Henri.
 ''It would be dreadful if l were to cry ,,1 io so romantic there is no saying what she might not do."
 While her aunt was busy examining the arrangement of sheets and the quail ty of the mattresses, Madelaine said suddenly, 'Aunt Virginie, do you re- member what said in my letter before I came?"
 "You said you wanted some advice, child" Mademoiselle Chaunelle looked at her niece, but she could not see her face. Madelaine was seated beside her bed, and the solitary candle only shed a faint light; besides, the girl had pur- posely brushed her hair over her eyes. Frank, straightforward Madelaine had all at once become crafty.
 "Yes, aunt" She paused. ''Have father or mother written to tell you about it?"
 Mademoiselle Chaumelle smiled.
 "About what?" she said. "They cer- tainly have not told me any news about you, dear child"
 'Not that they have found a husband for me?"
 Madelaine could not help laughing at the sudden alarm she saw in her aunt's face.
 "Oh, my dear! my dear! you should have told me this sooner" and Made moiselle Virginie clasped her hands in a sort of despair.
 "Why, what difference would it have made?''
 But Mademoiselle Chaumelle was mol going to make any unwise admissions.
 'sTell me-" she said gravely, ''does this plan please you, Madelaine:' .-~
 ''No! oh, no! I said I was too young to marry; and they said l must not be in hurry, so 1 asked if I might not go to- see you; but am afraid my father wishes it very much"
 "And your mother, does she wish ii too?'
 ''She is so good, you know" said Made laine sadly; ''she always wishes the same as my father. It was she who told me he had long been thinking about this and waiting till was old enough. Pm sure," she said in heartbroken tone, "I am much to young to marry a man ever so much older than am.'
 "How old is this proposed husband. and what is his name!"
 "He is Monsieur Devrient. My mother said he was about thirty, but saw him from the window the day left home and I am sure he looked more than fifty"
 My dear Madelaine, are you sure ol this?" Aunt Virginie felt indignant with her brother-in-law and his wife.
 ''I could not be mistaken. saw this gentleman come up the, steps, and hi staid long time with father in his study; then, when I had seen him ge away, asked Victoire who it was, and she said it was Monsieur Devrient."
 "I wish l had known; oh, how wish itv Aunt Virginie broke out so peni tently, that her niece looked hard al her.. She longed to ask question, and yet she shrank from uttering it; she went on brushing her hair in silence till she saw that her aunt was ready to gt to bed.
 ''Good night. my dear child" he1 aunt said.
 Madelaine swiftly crossed the roon and put both arms around her.
 ''No, Aunt Virginie, that is cowardly You should not go to bed till you hay; given me your opinion; you know came to Caudebec on purpose to get it. Then she hid her hot face on her aunt. shoulder and whispered, "Did you mear that if you had known it you woult have been less hospitable than you have been lately?"
 Mademoiselle moved her shoulder st that she might see her niece's face. And what she saw did not reassure her. Sht kissed Madelaine lovingly and patted her shoulder.
 Courage. dear child, and try te sleep" she said. ''The fault has beer mine; shall therefore take the blame on my old shoulders. No, Madelaine for once you must do what tell you: gc to bed now and go to sleep"
 Aunt Virginie could not sleep. She