She wept, and still we stood hand in hand.
'But whence the name of Nicola?' said I.
'My name is Nicola Marie Louise; and I chose the first, because it was the name of my dear mother, who lies in the church of St. Epurus; and, moreover, because our patron is St. Nicolas of Lorraine.'
'But this strange sojourn in Paris, mademoiselle?'
'I was there when Richelieu suddenly took measures to grasp the dukedom of Lorraine; and one of his first intentions was to place me in the Bastille. Of this Madame d'Amboise gave me timely notice; I sought shelter with her, but remained in Paris watching the tide of events. Lorraine is my country; it is the patrimony of my fathers; it is the land of Joan of Arc, and why should not I, in some wise, seek to serve the soil she sprang from?'
'And to this end, you will wed Count Pappenheim, and duly bestow your bridal garments on the shrine of St. Lucy—'tis all wise, proper, and befitting, mademoiselle.'
'How cruel in you to speak thus to me!' said she, upbraidingly; 'to marry Pappenheim, while—while—loving you—would be to bear about in my heart a load of misery too terrible for contemplation.'
I bent my hot face upon her hand in joy, and kissed it.
'I was decoyed from our solitary little auberge at the Three Willows, by a specious falsehood of the Count de Bitche, who, in my costume as a sister of Vincent de Paule, did not at first recognise me.'
'And he told you—'