CHAPTER LXXIII.
HOW WE OBEYED IT.
I found her pale and in tears, with a face that too plainly told of present suffering and of past sorrow. She was dressed in a dark robe, having wide loose sleeves trimmed with silver braid and black wolf's fur, which contrasted finely with the whiteness of her delicate skin. She came hurriedly towards me, and putting both her soft hands in mine permitted me to kiss them and place myself beside her. After a sad pause,—'Viscount Dundrennan has just left me,' said she.
'Then you know all?'
'All that Richelieu and King Louis have in store for me—yes. Imprisonment in the Bastille until I shall consent, perhaps, to wed one of their creatures, or until my father, to procure my release, consents to a written surrender of that dukedom which has already been rent from him by force of arms.'
Her tears flowed fast; and I pressed her hand to my heart, saying,—
'Alas! Marie Louise, that you should weep thus—you who have been born to rank and splendour.'
'Nay—I have been born to unhappiness—born of a race that is fated to fall.'
'Louise, listen to me,' said I, trembling for the success of what I was about to propose; but yielding to the dangerous predicament in which we stood; trusting to her love for me, and borne away by my passion for her, heaven lent me eloquence, and the little I said when urging her to marry, and with me to seek safely in flight, was said well and delicately; but all that interview seemed like a dream to me an hour after.
She grew pale as snow, and trembled in her turn; but my words had not been heard unheeded.
'Much as I love you, Arthur, and that I do love you, you believe and know, there is a something in all this proceeding at which my pride revolts.'