“You think the he would beat me?”

“If he did not kill you.”

“Oh, no,” she replied, in a resolute tone, with a wave of the knife, “I would kill him first.  When Mauprat meets Mauprat . . .!”

“You can laugh, Edmee?  O my God! you can laugh at the thought of such a match!  But, even if this man had some affection and esteem for you, think how impossible it would be for you to have anything in common; think of the coarseness of his ideas, the vulgarity of his speech.  The heart rises in disgust at the idea of such a union.  Good God!  In what language would you speak to him?”

Once more I was on the point of rising and falling on my panegyrist; but I overcame my rage.  Edmee began to speak, and I was all ears again.

“I know very well that at the end of three or four days I should have nothing better to do than cut my own throat; but since sooner or later it must come to that, why should I not go forward to the inevitable hour?  I confess that I shall be sorry to leave life.  Not all those who have been to Roche-Mauprat have returned.  I went there not to meet death, but to betroth myself to it.  Well, then, I will go on to my wedding-day, and if Bernard is too odious, I will kill myself after the ball.”

“Edmee, your head seems full of romantic notions at present,” said the abbe, losing patience.  “Thank God, your father will never consent to the marriage.  He has given his word to M. de la March, and you too have given yours.  This is the only promise that is valid.”

“My father would consent—­yes, with joy—­to an arrangement which perpetuated his name and line directly.  As to M. de la March, he will release me from any promise without my taking the trouble to ask him; as soon as he hears that I passed two hours at Roche-Mauprat there will be no need of any other explanation.”

“He would be very unworthy of the esteem I feel for him, if he considered your good name tarnished by an unfortunate adventure from which you came out pure.”

“Thanks to Bernard,” said Edmee; “for after all I ought to be grateful to him; in spite of his reservations and conditions, he performed a great and inconceivable action, for a Hamstringer.”

“God forbid that I should deny the good qualities which education may have developed in this young man; and it may still be possible, by approaching him on this better side of his, to make him listen to reason.”

“And make him consent to be taught?  Never.  Even if he should show himself willing, he would no more be able than Patience.  When the body is made for an animal life, the spirit can no longer submit to the laws of the intellect.”

“I think so too; but that is not the point.  I suggest that you should have an explanation with him, and make him understand that he is bound in honour to release you from your promise and resign himself to your marriage with M. de la Marche.  Either he is a brute unworthy of the slightest esteem and consideration, or he will realize his crime and folly and yield honestly and with a good grace.  Free me from the vow of secrecy to which I am bound; authorize me to deal plainly with him and I will guarantee success.”