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 though I know perfectly well that she would willingly sacrifice a part of her dowry to obtain release from "

Edmée, who until now had remained very pale and apparently heedless of my words, all at once cast a lightning glance at me and said with an air of unconcern:

"To obtain a release from what, may I ask, Bernard?"

I saw that, in spite of this show of courage, she was very much perturbed; for she broke her fan while shutting it. I answered her with a look in which the artless malice of the rustic must have been apparent:

"To obtain release, cousin, from a certain promise you made me at Roche-Mauprat."

She grew paler than ever, and on her face I could see an expression of terror, but ill-disguised by a smile of contempt.

"What was the promise you made him, Edmée?" asked the chevalier, turning towards her ingenuously.

At the same time the abbé pressed my arm furtively, and I understood that my cousin's confessor was in possession of the secret.

I shrugged my shoulders; their fears did me an injustice, though they roused my pity.

"She promised me," I replied, with a smile, "that she would always look upon me as a brother and a friend. Were not these your words, Edmée, and do you think it is possible to make them good by mere money?"

She rose as if filled with new life, and, holding out her hand to me, said in a voice full of emotion:

"You are right, Bernard; yours is a noble heart, and I should never forgive myself if I doubted it for a moment."

I caught sight of a tear on the edge of her eye-lid,