Page:Cerise, a tale of the last century (IA cerisetaleoflast00whytrich).pdf/353

 in defiance of all opposition. They therefore rounded the lagoon at once, and proceeding by an easier route than that which her daughter followed, reached the quay at their leisure, thence to embark on board the brigantine un-*molested by the crowds of rioters with whom the town was filled.

Therefore it was that Madame de Montmirail now found herself on the deck of 'The Bashful Maid,' urging with a strange persistency, unusual and even unbecoming in a mother, Captain George's immediate marriage to her child, who was quietly sleeping off the night's fatigues below.

"There is the chapel, madame," said George, pointing to the little white edifice that stood between the lighthouse and the town, distinguished by a cross that surmounted its glistening roof, "and here is the bride, safe, happy, and I hope sound asleep beneath the very spot where we are standing. I know not why there should be an hour's delay, if indeed the priest have not taken flight. There must have been a prospect of martyrdom last night, which he would scarce wish to inspect too closely. Ah! madame, I may seem cold and undemonstrative, but if you could look into my heart you would see how happy I am!"

His voice and manner carried with them a conviction not to be disputed. It probed the Marquise to the quick, and true to her character, she pressed the instrument deeper and deeper into the wound.

"You love her then, monsieur?" she said, speaking very clearly and distinctly through her set teeth. "You love her as a woman must be loved if she would be happy—unreservedly, with your whole heart?"

"I love her so well," he answered, "that I only ask to pass my life in contributing to her happiness. Mine has been a rude wild career, in many scenes and many countries. I have lived in society and out of society, afloat and ashore, at bivouac fires and Court receptions, yet I have always carried the portrait of that one gentle loving face printed on my heart."

"I compliment you on your constancy," she answered, rather bitterly. "Such gallants have been very rare of late both at the old and new Courts. You must have seen