"Therefore, it is your opinion that I ought to renounce my present hopes, abandon my compromised friends, and three days hence, when they take up arms, leave them in the lurch and justify the man who tells them, 'Marie-Caroline, for whom you are ready to fight, for whom you are ready to die, despairs of her prospects and recoils at fate; Marie-Caroline is afraid.' Oh, no; never, never, never, monsieur!"
"Your friends will not be able to make you that reproach, Madame, for they will not take arms, as you suppose, a few days hence."
"Are you ignorant that the day is fixed for the 24th?"
"The order is countermanded."
"Countermanded!" cried the duchess; "when?"
"To-day."
"To-day!" she exclaimed, lifting herself up by her wrists. "By whom?"
"By the man you yourself commanded them to obey."
"The maréchal?"
"The maréchal, following the instructions of the committee in Paris."