The Duke of Vallombreuse divined his companion’s thoughts, and when the old servant had retired, after placing a bottle of especially choice wine and two small glasses on the table, he looked up at de Sigognac and said, with the most amicable frankness, “I can plainly perceive, my dear baron, in spite of your admirable courtesy, that this unexpected step of mine appears very strange and inexplicable to you.  You have been saying to yourself, How in the world has it come about, that the arrogant, imperious Vallombreuse has been transformed, from the unscrupulous, cruel, blood-thirsty tiger that he was, into the peaceable, playful lamb he seems to be now—­which a ‘gentle shepherdess’ might lead about with a ribbon round its neck!—­I will tell you.  During the six weeks that I was confined to my bed, I made various reflections, which the thoughtless might pronounce cowardly, but which are permitted to the bravest and most valiant when death stares them in the face.  I realized then, for the first time, the relative value of many things, and also how wrong and wicked my own course had been; and I promised myself to do very differently for the future, if I recovered.  As the passionate love that Isabelle inspired in my heart had been replaced by a pure and sacred fraternal affection—­which is the greatest blessing of my life—­I had no further reason to dislike you.  You were no longer my rival; a brother cannot be jealous in that way of his own sister; and then, I was deeply grateful to you, for the respectful tenderness and deference I knew you had never failed to manifest towards her, when she was in a position that authorized great license.  You were the first to recognise her pure, exalted soul, while she was still only an obscure actress.  When she was poor, and despised by those who will cringe to her now, you offered to her—­lowly as was her station—­the most precious treasure that a nobleman can possess:  the time-honoured name of his ancestors.  You would have made her your wife then—­now that she is rich, and of high rank, she belongs to you of right.  The true, faithful lover of Isabelle, the actress, should be the honoured husband of the Comtesse de Lineuil.”

“But you forget,” cried de Sigognac, in much agitation, “that she always absolutely refused me, though she knew that I was perfectly disinterested.”

“It was because of her supreme delicacy, her angelic susceptibility, and her noble spirit of self-sacrifice that she said that.  She feared that she would necessarily be a disadvantage to you—­an obstacle in the way of your advancement.  But the situation is entirely changed now.”

“Yes, now it is I who would be a disadvantage to her; have I then a right to be less generous and magnanimous than she was?”

“Do you still love my sister?” said Vallombreuse, in a grave tone.  “As her brother, I have the right to ask this question.”

“I love her with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength,” de Sigognac replied fervently, “as much and more than ever man loved woman on this earth—­where nothing is perfect—­save Isabelle.”