As soon as he saw us he stopped the carriage and called to me to get out.  I began to shriek, and my lover taking me in his arms to protect me my father stabbed him in the chest.  No doubt he would have killed him, but seeing that my shrieks were bringing people to our rescue, and probably believing that my lover was as good as dead, he got on horseback again and rode off at full speed.  I can chew you the sword still covered with blood.”

“I am obliged to answer this letter of his, and I am thinking how I can obtain his consent.”

“That’s of no consequence; we can marry and be happy without it.”

“True, but you ought not to despise your dower.”

“Good heavens! what dower?  He has no money!”

“But on the death of his father, the Marquis Desarmoises . . . . "

“That’s all a lie.  My father has only a small yearly pension for having served thirty years as a Government messenger.  His father has been dead these thirty years, and my mother and my sister only live by the work they do.”

I was thunderstruck at the impudence of the fellow, who, after imposing on me so long, had himself put me in a position to discover his deceit.  I said nothing.  Just then we were told that supper was ready, and we sat at table for three hours talking the matter over.  The poor wounded man had only to listen to me to know my feelings on the subject.  His young mistress, as witty as she was pretty, jested on the foolish passion of her father, who had loved her madly ever since she was eleven.

“And you were always able to resist his attempts?” said I.

“Yes, whenever he pushed things too far.”

“And how long did this state of things continue?”

“For two years.  When I was thirteen he thought I was ripe, and tried to gather the fruit; but I began to shriek, and escaped from his bed stark naked, and I went to take refuge with my mother, who from that day forth would not let me sleep with him again.”

“You used to sleep with him?  How could your mother allow it?”

“She never thought that there was anything criminal in his affection for me, and I knew nothing about it.  I thought that what he did to me, and what he made me do to him, were mere trifles.”

“But you have saved the little treasure?”

“I have kept it for my lover.”

The poor lover, who was suffering more from the effects of hunger than from his wounds, laughed at this speech of hers, and she ran to him and covered his face with kisses.  All this excited me intensely.  Her story had been told with too much simplicity not to move me, especially when I had her before my eyes, for she possessed all the attractions which a woman can have, and I almost forgave her father for forgetting she was his daughter and falling in love with her.

When she escorted me back to my room I made her feel my emotion, and she began to laugh; but as my servants were close by I was obliged to let her go.