And seeing that Jarnonville kept silence, Ambroisine continued:
"Do you disapprove of my project, seigneur chevalier? What have I to fear, after all? My poor Bathilde cannot possibly be more unhappy! Her seducer cannot treat her any more cruelly!—Yes! I am determined to attempt this method of restoring my friend's honor! This old marquis, who is such a just man, will perhaps insist upon his son's keeping the promises, the oaths, he made to Bathilde."
"But how will you prove to Léodgard's father that his son did really make your friend a solemn promise! He will tell you that all men who seek to seduce a woman use the same language, and that it is her place not to listen to words whose value she should know."
"How will I prove it! Oh! luckily enough, I have kept a letter written to Bathilde by the count when he had not succeeded in his projects. It is the first and, I believe, the only letter he ever wrote to her. The poor child gave it to me at the time, to be rid of the temptation to read it all day long. For the eloquent oaths of love which it contained were beginning even then to turn her head. Writing is something more than mere words."
"Yes, you are right; and if you have that letter——"
"I have always kept it carefully; something told me that it might be of use to Bathilde some day; she thinks, no doubt, that I burned it long ago."
"In that case, carry out your plan. But I do not see in what way I can be of use to you in all this, and why you claim my assistance?"
"To help me to gain access to the old Seigneur de Marvejols—that is why I appealed to you."
"Do you know where the Hôtel de Marvejols is?"
"Yes, chevalier; it is on Place Royale. I went there once, expecting to find Monsieur Léodgard there."