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Rh disbelieved what she asserted; and, secondly, I felt so angry with her want of sympathy.

"But her assertion soon proved its truth. That very evening I met both the Duc de Joyeuse and Mademoiselle Guerchy;—a slight embarrassment on his part, a little air of triumphant impertinence on hers, and an affected but insolent commiseration from Mademoiselle de Guise, told the whole. Francesca, I have heard my father say, that the shock of a gun-wound at first deadens the pain, and the suffering is lost in the shock. Mine was such a case; it was confusion, not pride, which supported me through the evening. When we were in the carriage, my mother put her arm round me, and said, 'I am charmed with your conduct, my child; you treated cet jeune insolent with fitting disdain." A sudden resolution grew up in my heart, and I thought within myself, 'My mother shall not be made wretched by my misery;' and, with a strong effort, I restrained the impulse which prompted me to throw myself on her neck and weep.

"It is singular how little I recollect of the succeeding period. My existence was a blank—I neither thought nor felt; a strange impatience actuated all my actions. I longed for change—for movement; I dreaded being left a moment. I