“We should never have come to that determination, without a number of reasons of the most serious kind.”

“Oh! there are reasons for it, it seems.”

“Unfortunately, too many.”

“You will perhaps inform me of them?”

“Alas! they are only too conclusive; and if you should ever apply to the protection of the laws, as you threatened me just now, we should be obliged to state them.  The fantastical eccentricity of your manner of living, your whimsical mode of dressing up your maids, your extravagant expenditure, the story of the Indian prince, to whom you offered a royal hospitality, your unprecedented resolution of going to live by yourself, like a young bachelor, the adventure of the man found concealed in your bed-chamber; finally, the report of your yesterday’s conversation, which was faithfully taken down in shorthand, by a person employed for that purpose.”

“Yesterday?” cried Adrienne, with as much indignation as surprise.

“Oh, yes! to be prepared for every event, in case you should misinterpret the interest we take in you, we had all your answers reported by a man who was concealed behind a curtain in the next room; and really, one day, in a calmer state of mind, when you come to read over quietly the particulars of what took place, you will no longer be astonished at the resolution we have been forced to adopt.”

“Go on, sir,” said Adrienne, with contempt.

“The facts I have cited being thus confirmed and acknowledged, you will understand, my dear Mdlle.  Adrienne, that your friends are perfectly free from responsibility.  It was their duty to endeavor to cure this derangement of mind, which at present only shows itself in idle whims, but which, were it to increase, might seriously compromise the happiness of your future life.  Now, in my opinion, we may hope to see a radical cure, by means of a treatment at once physical and moral; but the first condition of this attempt was to remove you from the scenes which so dangerously excited your imagination; whilst a calm retreat, the repose of a simple and solitary life combined with my anxious, I may say, paternal care, will gradually bring about a complete recovery—­”

“So, sir,” said Adrienne, with a bitter laugh, “the love of a noble independence, generosity, the worship of the beautiful, detestation of what is base and odious, such are the maladies of which you wish to cure me; I fear that my case is desperate, for my aunt has long ago tried to effect that benevolent purpose.”

“Well, we may perhaps not succeed; but at least we will attempt it.  You see, then, there is a mass of serious facts, quite enough to justify the determination come to by the family-council, which puts me completely at my ease with regard to your menaces.  It is to that I wish to return; a man of my age and condition never acts lightly—­in such circumstances, and you can readily understand what I was saying to you just now.  In a word, do not hope to leave this place before your complete recovery, and rest assured, that I am and shall ever be safe from your resentment.  This being once admitted, let us talk of your actual state with all the interest that you naturally inspire.”