“Think!” stammered Norbert.  “Really I——­”

“Pshaw,” replied the old gentleman; “I thought that you had begun to use your eyes.  And look here, Marquis, you must adopt a different style of dress.  You can go over with me to Poitiers to-morrow, and one of the tailors there will make you some clothes suitable to your rank, for I don’t suppose that you wish to alarm your future wife by the uncouthness of your appearance.”

“But, father—­”

“Wait a moment, if you please.  I shall have a suite of apartments reserved for you and your bride, and you can pass your honeymoon here.  Take care you do not prolong it for too lengthened a period; and when it is all over, we can break the young woman into all our ways.”

“But,” interrupted Norbert hastily, “suppose I do not fancy this young lady?”

“Well, what then?”

“Suppose I should beg you to save me from a marriage which will render me most unhappy?”

The Duke shrugged his shoulders.  “Why this is mere childishness,” said he.  “The marriage is a most suitable one, and it is my desire that it should take place.”

“But, father,” again commenced Norbert.

“What!  Are you opposing my will?” asked his father angrily.  “Pray, do you hesitate?”

“No,” answered his son coldly, “I do not hesitate.”

“Very good, then.  A man of no position can consult the dictates of his heart when he takes a wife, but with a nobleman of rank and station it is certainly a different matter, for with the latter, marriage should be looked upon as a mere business transaction.  I have made excellent arrangements.  Let me repeat to you the conditions.  The Count will give two-thirds of his fortune, which is estimated at five millions—­just think of that!—­and when we get that, we shall be able to screw and save with better heart.  Think of the restoration of our house, and the colossal fortune that our descendants will one day inherit, and realize all the beauties of a life of self-denial.”

While the Duke was uttering this string of incoherent sentences, he was pacing up and down the room, and now he halted immediately in front of his son.  “You understand,” said he; “to-morrow you will go to Poitiers, and on Sunday we will dine at the house of your future father-in-law.”

In this fearful crisis Norbert did not know what to say or how to act.

“Father,” he once more commenced, “I have no wish to go to Poitiers to-morrow.”

“What are you saying?  What in heaven’s name do you mean?”

“I mean that as I shall never love Mademoiselle de Puymandour, she will never be my wife.”

The Duke had never foreseen the chance of rebellion on the part of his son, and he could not bring his mind to receive such an unlooked-for event.

“You are mad,” said he at last, “and do not know what you are saying.”

“I know very well.”

“Think of what you are doing.”