"
The taunt made him turn pale, and he cried out, "Oh, you are
pitiless!"
"Will you be frank?"
"You have the right to ask me that degrading question," he said, in a
voice weakened by the violent palpitation of his heart.
"Well, then, did you read my letters to Monsieur de Canalis?"
"No, mademoiselle; and I allowed your father to read them it was to
justify my love by showing him how it was born, and how sincere my
efforts were to cure you of your fancy."
"But how came the idea of that unworthy masquerade ever to arise?" she
said, with a sort of impatience.
La Briere related truthfully the scene in the poet's study which
Modeste's first letter had occasioned, and the sort of challenge that
resulted from his expressing a favorable opinion of a young girl thus
led toward a poet's fame, as a plant seeks its share of the sun.
"You have said enough," said Modeste, restraining some emotion. "If
you have not my heart, monsieur, you have at least my esteem."
These simple words gave the young man a violent shock; feeling himself
stagger, he leaned against a tree, like a man deprived for a moment of
reason.
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