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Rh Mercœur joins his regiment the day after tomorrow?"

"I do not comprehend what the Duc de Mercœur's joining his regiment has to do with me."

"Why, you cannot stay here—you have nowhere else to go—so you must come to me."

"I thank you; but, for the short period of my residence in Paris, I have decided on staying at the Carmelite convent."

The Comtesse de Soissons stood silent with surprise. She had come to the Hôtel de Vendôme out of temper, from two reasons; first, because her conscience reproached her with her unkind neglect of her early friend; and, secondly, she was angry that her uncle should be the person to remind her of it. She had, moreover, a vague jealousy of the influence Francesca might obtain in the royal household. Any thing but temper would have been disarmed by the other's pale and languid appearance; but Marie could subdue, rule, and manage others, not her own mood. Still, the declaration of the intended sojourn and departure astonished her out of her full resolve of annoying, she cared not how. "Have you not seen my uncle?" was her first question.

"I have," replied Francesca; "And am most grateful for his kindness, but cannot accept it,