Come now, isn't that it?"
The other did not reply. Her face was alive with memories. The lower
things were flying from it, a spirit of womanhood was living in
her--feebly, but truly, living. She was now conscious of the insanity of
her pursuit of Carnac. For a few moments she stood silent, and then she
said with agitation:
"If I give this up"--she took from her breast the blue document--"he'd be
safe in his election, and he'd marry you: is it not so, ma'm'selle?"
"He'd be safe for his election, but he has never asked me to marry him,
and there are others besides him."--She was thinking of Tarboe. "Tell me,"
she added suddenly, "to whom have you told this thing in Montreal? Did
you mean to challenge him yourself?"
"I told it only to M'sieu' Barouche, and he said he would use it at the
right moment--and the right moment has come," she added. "He asked me for
a copy of it last night, and I said I'd give it to him to-day. It's
because of him I've been here quiet all these weeks as Ma'm'selle Larue."
"He is worse than you, mademoiselle, for he has known Carnac's family,
and he has no excuse. If a man can't win his fight fairly, he oughtn't to
be in public life."
After a few dark moments, with a sudden burst of feeling, Luzanne said:
"Well, Carnac won't be out of public life through me!"
She took the blue certificate from her breast and was about to tear it
up, when Junia stopped her.
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