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 herself, nor suffered the servants to make any distinction between them.

In the course of the conversation Madeline discovered that Madame D'Alembert knew nothing of her or her father prior to her introduction at the chateau; and she felt from this circumstance more firmly convinced than ever that the private history of her father must be dreadful, when the Countess would not impart it even to her daughter.

A month elapsed without Madame D'Alembert's solitude being in the least interrupted, during which she and Madeline paid many visits to the grave of the Countess, which the latter could never approach without shuddering.

At the expiration of that period, as they sat at breakfast one morning, a letter was brought to Madame D'Alembert by her