'"Yes; I went there in the forenoon," I replied, with a sinking heart, though such was precisely the case.
'"And doubtless the rain detained you all night?"
'"The rain," said I, assentingly.
'"Yet it did not begin to fall till after you should have been at home."
'I hurried to my own room to avoid further questioning, happy in the conviction that in six days now I should be the wife of Lucien, and a free woman.
'Let me hasten over all that followed.
'How my brother Victor—cold, proud, and stern—discovered our escapade I never exactly knew, nor ever shall know probably till that day when all things shall be revealed, but he became, fatally for us, aware of it all.
'"You were not at the Beguinage on the night you said you were?" said he, in a low concentrated voice, two days after, while grasping my wrist like a vice, and eyeing me with eyes that sparkled with fury.
'"How do you dare to say so?" I exclaimed, but in a low and agitated voice.
'"Sapristi!" said he. "You shall learn in time."