she demanded.
"Nothing," Canolles replied; "one of the regular noises of this old room. There is no end to the dismal creaking and groaning here."
"If it is anything else," said Claire, laying her hand upon Canolles' arm, "be frank with me, baron, for you must realize the importance of this interview between us, when I decided to come myself to seek you."
Canolles wiped the perspiration from his brow, and tried to smile.
"Say on," said he.
"I reminded you a moment since of your promise, and asked you if you were ready to keep it."
"Alas, madame," said Canolles, "it has become impossible."
"Why so?"
"Because since that time many unforeseen events have happened, many ties which I thought broken forever have been formed anew; for the punishment which I knew I had merited, the queen has substituted a recompense of which I am unworthy; to-day I am united to her Majesty's party by – gratitude."
A sigh floated out upon the air. Poor Nanon doubtless was expecting a different word from the one that ended the sentence.
"Say by ambition, Monsieur de Canolles, and I can understand it. You are nobly born; at twenty-eight you are made lieutenant-colonel, and governor of a fortress; it's all very fine, I know; but it is no more than the fitting reward of your merit, and Monsieur de Mazarin is not the only one who appreciates it."
"Madame," said Canolles, "not another word, I beg."
"Pardon, monsieur," returned Claire, "but on this occasion it is not the Vicomtesse de Cambes who speaks to you, but the envoy of Madame la Princesse, who is intrusted with a mission to you, – a mission which she must now fulfil."
"Speak, madame," said Canolles, with a sigh which was much like a groan.
"Very well! Madame la Princesse, being aware of the sentiments which you expressed, in the first place at Chantilly, and afterwards at Jaulnay, and being anxious to know to what party you really belong, determined to send you a flag of truce to make an attempt to secure the fortress; this attempt, which another messenger might have made with much less ceremony, perhaps, I undertook to make, thinking that I should have more chance of success, knowing, as I do, your secret thoughts on the subject."
"Thanks, madame," said Canolles, tearing his hair; for, during the short pauses in the dialogue, he could hear Nanon's heavy breathing.
"This is what I have to propose to you, monsieur, in the name of Madame la Princesse, let me add; for if it had been in my own name," continued Claire, with her charming smile, "I should have reversed the order of the propositions."
"I am listening," said Canolles, in a dull voice.
"I propose that you surrender Île Saint-Georges on one of the three conditions which I submit to your choice. The first is this, – and pray remember that it does not come from me: the sum of two hundred thousand livres – "
"Oh, madame, go no further," said Canolles, trying to break off the interview at that point. "I have been intrusted by the queen with the post of commandant at Île Saint-Georges, and I will defend it to the death."
"Remember the past, monsieur," said Claire, sadly; "that is not what you said to me at our last interview, when you proposed to abandon everything to follow me, when you had the pen already in your hand to offer your resignation to the persons for whom you propose to sacrifice your life to-day."
"I might have had that purpose, madame, when I was free to choose my own road; but to-day I am no longer free – "
"You are no longer free!" cried Claire, turning pale as death; "how am I to understand that? What do you mean?"
"I mean that I am in honor bound."
"Very well! then listen to my second proposition."
"To what end?" said Canolles; "have I not told you often enough, madame, that my resolution is immovable? So do not tempt me; you would do so to no purpose."
"Forgive me, monsieur," said Claire, "but I, too, am intrusted with a mission, and I must go through with it to the end."
"Go on," murmured Canolles; "but you are very cruel."
"Resign your command, and we will work upon your successor more effectively than upon you. In a year, in two years, you can take service under Monsieur le Prince with the rank of brigadier."
Canolles sadly shook his head.
"Alas! madame," said he, "why do you ask nothing of me but impossibilities?"
"Do you make that answer to me?" said Claire. "Upon my soul, monsieur, I do not understand you. Weren't you on the point of signing your resignation once? Did you not say to her who was beside you at that time, listening to you with such delight, that you did it freely and from the bottom of your heart? Why, I pray to know, will you not do here, when I ask you, when I beg you to do it, the very thing that you proposed to do at Jaulnay?"
Every word entered poor Nanon's heart like a dagger-thrust, and Canolles seemed to share her agony.
"That which at that time was an act of trifling importance would to-day be treachery, infamous treachery!" said Canolles, gloomily. "I will never surrender Île Saint-Georges, I will never resign my post!"
"Stay, stay," said Claire in her sweetest voice, but looking about uneasily all the while; for Canolles' resistance, and, above all, the constraint under which he was evidently laboring seemed very strange to her. "Listen now to my last proposition, with which I would have liked to begin, for I knew, and I said beforehand, that you would refuse the first two. Material advantages, and I am very happy to have divined it, are not the things which tempt a heart like yours. You must needs have other hopes than those of ambition and of fortune; noble instincts require noble rewards. Listen – "
"In Heaven's name, madame," Canolles broke in, "have pity on me!"
And he made as if he would withdraw.
Claire thought that his resolution was shaken, and, confident that what she was about to say would complete her victory, she detained him, and continued: —
"If, instead of a mere mercenary recompense, you were offered a pure and honorable recompense; if your resignation were to be purchased, – and you can resign without blame, for, as hostilities have not begun, it would be neither defection nor treachery, but a matter of choice, pure and simple, – if, I say, your resignation were to be purchased by an alliance; if a woman, to whom you have said that you loved her, whom you have sworn always to love, and who, notwithstanding your oaths, has never responded directly to your passion, if that woman should come to you and say: 'Monsieur de Canolles, I am free, I am wealthy, I love you; be my husband, let us go hence together, – go wherever you choose, away from all these civil commotions, away from France,' – tell me, monsieur, would you not then accept?"
Canolles, despite Claire's blushes, despite her fascinating hesitation, despite the memory of the lovely little château de Cambes, which he could have seen from his window, had not the darkness come down from heaven during the scene we have been describing, – Canolles remained firm and immovable in his determination; for he could see in the distance, a white spot in the deep shadow, the pale, tear-stained face of Nanon, trembling with agony, peering out from behind the Gothic curtains.
"Answer me, in Heaven's name!" exclaimed the viscountess,
