"Your fears are groundless, Felix."
"Are they?" And he held out his bound-up hand to her.
"That was but the stroke of a lover mad with jealousy," Elisabeth answered. "When I sent you to Christine that night I little thought you would find her lover there."
"Who is this lover?"
"Indeed, I cannot tell; but being a woman I read another woman easily. As I told you, I thought she loved this Captain Lemasle; in that I was mistaken, but I was not at fault when I said she was in love. That you must know now."
Felix was silent. A lover of Christine's this sham priest might well be, but he was something more—he was the man who knew his secret. This he could not tell to the Countess without betraying himself.
"Would you still marry her, Felix?" she asked.
"Only for the good of Montvilliers," he answered.
"She will hate you, Felix, even though she be your wife. They are her own words."
"I must risk even that for the good of Montvilliers."