child; the moment that deprives me of my reputation will be the last of my existence." She paused" It is yet possible to preserve my fame; but how? -by a life of sacrifices a thousand times more painful than death. I must conceal in the deepest recesses of my heart that sorrow which henceforth must be my constant companion. At the mercy of beings whom I despise and abhor, I must conciliate them by an appearance of respect, and even of regard. Whichever way I turn, I have but a choice of evils. Oh that I dared escape them in the silence of the grave! But, no,-my Celine, my poor fatherless babe, I cannot-I will not abandon thee!"

No sooner was she pronounced out of danger, than she requested de Villars to beg the marquis would return to the chateau. "Tell him," said she, "that he need dread no reproaches from me; I shall never speak to him of the past, and I ask only that he also should be silent upon it."

The marquis agreed readily to these terms. He came, saw his daughter, and shuddered at the state to which he had reduced her. The baroness, who saw the state of his mind, and who had conceived a new plan by which she hoped to make the unfortunate Adrienne instrumental to her views, did her utmost to turn him from those salutary thoughts; and she soon succeeded. He began to reflect that he had only acted as became his rank; that it was not his fault if Frederic had rashly thrown away his life, and that he could not be answerable for an event which he had not had either the intention or the wish to cause. And he finished by believing that he had no reason to reproach himself. His manners to Adrienne were more tender than ever; it seemed as if he wished, by giving her daily new proofs of the love and respect which he had for her, to efface from her mind the remembrance of her sufferings.

But it was soon evident that they were ineffaceable; her manners became entirely changed, grave, cold, and reserved. She lost both the vivacity and the warmth of feeling which had been in her so peculiarly attractive; but if her manners lost something of the winning charm which characterised them, thy became more dignified than ever; and the marquis frequently and proudly said she appeared more worthy than ever of the illustrious name she bore.

Two years had passed since the death of Frederic, and they had been years of ceaseless torment to Adrienne. She found that her worst presentiments were more than justified; for a new enemy sprung up, of whose knowledge of her secret she had till then been ignorant. Jacques de Clugny, judging from his own depraved heart, believed that she who had once been weak, was for ever fallen. He dared to speak to her of love and the indignant scorn with which she heard him, fired his vindictive soul. He uttered the

most dreadful threats of vengeance, and emboldened by the terror which for the moment palsied the spirit of Adrienne, he seized her in his arms.

This last insult gave her back all the force of her spirit. She burst from his grasp. "Monster!" cried she, "dare to approach one step nearer, and I swear by the heaven that hears me, this instant releases me for ever from your malice." She stood as she spoke upon the banks of the river, upon that very spot where so many years before she had aided in saving the life of Marie.

The determination of her look, the haughtiness of her tone, awed the villain. “I could forget all that is past," said he, in an humble accent, “I could even make thee honourably mine, if——"

"Thine! unite my destiny to thine? rather, a thousand times rather perish. Hence, miscreant! and know that Adrienne de Touranges defies thy power; for she will find always a sure means to escape it."

The traitor shrunk from her haughty and commanding air, and retired, muttering threats of vengeance. From that hour she considered herself lost; for she judged too truly, that it was the baroness alone who could have betrayed her.

"I know not which to wonder at most," said that shameless woman, when Jacques reported to her his unsucessful attempt,"-your folly, or her madness. Why, my good friend, what evil spirit possesed you to take the only effectual way to ruin your cause?"

"Curses on her haughty spirit! but I will bend it yet; or make her feel my vengeance."

"And what, I pray you, could you gain by forcing her to take the desperate resolution she has avowed, and which I believe her capable of? With a little prudence, you may still succeed by fair means."

"Pshaw! you speak like one unskilled in reading the heart of woman. I tell you that if she were once married, your success would be almost certain; and I have the project of marrying her very shortly, to a relation of my own.' "Indeed! he ought to think himself much indebted to you." "And I have no doubt that he will too, though it is neither for his sake nor hers, but solely for my own, that I mean to bring about that marriage.” "Which I vow already shall never take place."

"And pray why not? It will be the very thing for your own interest. Once she is married, and mixing with the society of Louis the XV.'s court who as we all know are not the most scrupulous people in the world, she, will lose her romantic prudence, and be very happy to preserve her secret upon the easy terms of being as kind to you as she was to Frederic. Besides

it is not to be doubted that she will obtain a very great ascendancy over her husband; and the man I have in view for her has considerable credit at court. See then what advantages you may derive from a step which in (the madness of your resentment you would oppose."

It was not, however, so easy as this detestable woman had flattered herself, to bring her accomplice into her views; it cost her much trouble and sonie time to make him yield to them; but at length she succeeded; and while she was so employed, she had been gradually preparing the mind of the marquis for her plan.

She began by representing to him, that her relation the Duke de Ormisson, at whose house de Villars had made such a long stay at Paris, was so high in the king's favour, that he could, if he wished it, obtain for himself the post of minister; but being void of ambition, he bounded his desires to the personal favour of the sovereign, which he believed himself more certain of retaining if he did not accept of office. "But," continued the baroness, “it is very certain that what he does not desire for himself, he might easily procure for another, especially if that other was like yourself, my dear marquis, distinguished alike by birth and splendid talents. But, in order to make the duke exert himself, he ought to have a powerful motive; and what could be so powerful as love? By bestowing Adrienne upon him, you could bind him for ever to your interest; and you would give her a husband worthy of her, and whose family, independent of all other motives, is suitable to your own."

The advice was too palatable to be rejected. All that either deemed necessary was to give the duke a sight of Adrienne; and it was agreed that this should be done, without any apparent design, by the baroness inviting him to pass some time with her.

The event answered their expectation, the first sight of Adrienne inspired the duke with the most violent passion; a passion which all the coldness of Adrienne could not check. Louise saw with terror the persecution which was preparing for her friend. "Be tranquil," said Adrienne calmly, "I can have nothing to fear from it. A convent will be my resource in case of ex tremity. The authority of my father would be powerless against a step which, in withdrawing me from the world, will still enable me to watch over the welfare of my child. As soon as she has attained her seventh year I will have her placed, under a feigned name, in the house which I inhabit : thus she will grow up under my eyes, and I may bestow upon her, without danger and without fear, the cares of a mother."

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"You deceive yourself," cried Louise; never will your father consent to such a step. There is is but one way, if our fears should be, as I dread they

are, too well founded, to preserve yourself to your daughter; it is to fly with her. The sale of your mother's jewels will procure you a sum more than sufficient for your wants, and you may await in peaceful security the moment when the marquis, returning to the voice of nature, will agree to receive you again to his arms, without insisting on the frightful sacrifice which you cannot make without committing the blackest perjury, and sacrificing at the same time the future happiness of your child.”

"Good God, Louise! what is it you propose to me? to fly my father's house! to render myself infamous in the eyes of the world! Never!"

"Lost, unfortunate Adrienne, you have but a choice of evils. Placed in a position in which your duties must clash, it is those that ought to be most sacred which you are first called upon to fulfil. What duty can be so sacred as that of keeping your solemn oath, preserving your Celine from the evils with which your marriage must overwhelm her? Can the voice of ambition stifle in your heart all the sentiments of nature? and will you sacrifice your child, as you have already sacrificed its father, on the altar of your pride ?”

CHAPTER XIV.

"Cruel,

This reproach drew a torrent of tears from the eyes of Adrienne. unjust Louise!" cried she; "I thought that in thee I had at least one friend who knew my heart; and it is thou who inflictest upon me the deepest, deadliest wound. But the time will come when I shall force thee to acknowledge thy injustice." Touched with her tears, Louise embraced and wept with her, and reproached herself for having said a word that could afflict her; but still urged the necessity of flight, if their fears should prove well founded. Adrienne would not listen to her advice; she remained firm in resolving rather to retire to a convent; and the next day her resolution was put to the proof.

The marquis told her that during two years he had abstained from speaking to her on the subject nearest to his heart, that of her marriage; because he wished to give her a proof of his tenderness in suffering time to erase her remembrance of those sorrows that had crowded her early youth. But the moment had arrived in which an opportunity presented itself of obtaining the great object of his life, by establishing her in a manner the most worthy of her virtue. He then stated the proposals of the duke, and concluded by saying he expected from her a ready and cheerful acquiescence in the same.

"My father," said Adrienne, in a calm but firm tone, "my happiness, and the life of him whom I loved above my own existence, have been

sacrificed to your will; but in the moment in which I lost him, my heart pronounced a solemn vow never to know another love. This vow is registered in heaven, and force or persuasion will be alike unavailing to induce me to break it."

"What!" interrupted the marquis, boiling with rage, "dare you resist my authority! dare you force me to employ the rights which the law gives me upon you!"

Those rights have their limits; there is no law that can prevent me from taking refuge in a convent, and such is the resolution I will adopt if you force me to it."

These words raised the marquis's wrath to the utmost. He raved, he stormed, but without effect. He vowed that unless she yielded to his will, he would procure a lettre de cachet, and immure her in the Bastile for life. He locked her in her apartment with a declaration that she should never leave it, nor see any one but Mademoiselle d'Anvers, and himself, till she had given her consent to marry the duke.

This last step, which she had not foreseen, rendered her desperate; because it deprived her of the opportunity of seeing her child, and exposed her to the unremitting persecutions of her governess; who, always fearful that some chance would betray the knowledge that she had of the birth of Celine, and that she should thus be exposed to the wrath of the marquis, had incessantly tormented the unhappy Adrienne to prevent the possibility of such an event, by sending her daughter to the foundling hospital. In vain did she try, by testifying all the horror with which this barbarous proposal inspired her to impose silence on the hypocritical and selfish governess; who alive only to her own interest, gave her no peace; and now gladly seized upon the double opportunity of tormenting her on account of the proposed narriage, and of her child.

It was in vain that Louise, and even de Villars applied for permission to see her. The marquis was inexorable, and the baroness, while she affected openly to condemn his conduct, secretly applauded his vigour. She even afiected to have had much trouble in obtaining from him permission to enter the apartment of his daughter, to whom she made the most hypocritical professions of sorrow for the marquis's conduct; advising her, however, to yield to a will which she had no possible means of resisting; and assuring her that she would charge herself with the future destiny of Celine, whom she would treat in every respect as her own child.

Adrienne dared not show to the perfidious woman the abhorrence and mistrust with which her heart was filled, but she declared that she never would consent to the marriage, nor would she yield the care of her child to