"She did," said Helen. "She called me every odious name, which, perhaps, I but too well deserved; and, in the midst of all her servants, drove me forth, to perish, for aught she knew, unfriended and alone."
"She shall have her punishment," replied Walter de la Tremblade in a stern, resolute tone. "Ay, here as well as hereafter. All the letters did you say?--all?"
"All I think," said Helen. "Nay," she added, "there may be one which I placed in the book of Hours you gave me; and it may have escaped her notice, though doubtless she has caused search to be made since I was driven away. Yet, as the book is clasped, it might not be observed."
"What were its contents?" demanded the priest eagerly, with his keen eye fixed upon her face, so that its light seemed to dazzle and confuse her.
Helen lifted her hand to her head, and for a moment gazed into vacancy with the effort to remember. "Yes," she said at length, "Yes, it was the last but one he wrote me. He promised to love me ever.--He said he would see me soon again.--He called me his wife."
"He did? He did?" cried the priest, with a look of triumph. "That letter must be obtained, Helen!"
"But how?" demanded the poor girl with a mournful shake of the head; "even if it still exists, they will not let me enter those doors again."
"No," answered Walter de la Tremblade. "No, you never shall. But still that letter must be obtained, if it be in being. Ay, and it shall be too; and that before to-morrow morning. What is the hour? Near one,--I had forgot, I had forgot. We have no time to lose! That accursed plot is on the eve of execution. It must be frustrated;" and, pressing his hand hard upon his brow, he fixed his eyes upon the pavement in deep meditation. "Yes," he said at length, "that will do! Listen to me, Helen. They had laid a scheme to drive Rose d'Albret, who always loved you, into the arms of him who has betrayed you. They have persuaded her that Louis de Montigni is dead; and they think by blasting her reputation to leave her no choice but marriage with Chazeul."
"Oh, horrible!" cried Helen. "How base! how shameless!"
"It is worthy of its framer," replied the priest. "The maid is bribed or frightened to give him this night--yes within a few minutes from this time--to give him admission to her chamber."