"He here!" said the marquise, starting with a feeling of sudden disappointment. "And why and how is Count Frantz here?"
"Knowing from me that you would be here this morning," said Antonine, "he has come to thank you for all your kindness to us. He is waiting in the garden,—wait,—there he is!" With these words the young girl pointed to Frantz, who was seated on a bench in the garden.
Madeleine threw a long and last look on her blond archangel, nor could she restrain the tears which rose to her eyes; then, kissing Antonine on the brow, she said, in a slightly altered voice:
"Good-bye, my child."
"Why, Madeleine," exclaimed the young girl, astounded at so abrupt a departure, "will you go away without wishing to see Frantz? Why, that is impossible—but you will—"
The marquise put her finger on her lips as a sign to Antonine to keep silence; then walking away, turning her eyes only once to that side of the garden, she disappeared.
Two hours after, the Marquise de Miranda quit Paris, leaving this note for the archduke:
"Monseigneur:—I am going to wait for you in Vienna; come and complete your capture of me.
"Madeleine."
THE END.