Part 107 (1/2)
”Monsieur de Ligny, I suppose. The French n.o.bleman.”
Madelaine made a gesticulation with her hands, as if throwing the idea aside.
”No, no, no,” she said impatiently. ”It is impossible, de Ligny--de Ligny? You mean that Louise Vine, my dear friend, my sister, was under the influence of some French gentleman unknown to me?”
”Unknown to her father too,” said Leslie bitterly, ”for he reviled me when I told him.”
”I cannot do that,” said Madelaine firmly; ”but I tell you it is not true.”
”As you will,” he said coldly; ”but I saw her at his knees last night.”
”De Ligny--a French gentleman?”
”Yes.”
”I tell you it is impossible.”
”But she has gone,” said Leslie coldly.
”Gone? I cannot believe it. Mr Vine? He knows where?”
Leslie shook his head mournfully. ”Some secret love,” he said.
”Yes; Louise did nurture a secret love,” said Madelaine scornfully, ”and for a man unworthy of her.”
”Poor girl!”
”Yes; poor girl! Shame upon you, Duncan Leslie! She may be gone for some good reason, but it is not as you say and think. Louise, my sister, my poor suffering friend, carry on a clandestine intrigue with some French gentleman? It is not true.”
”You forget her aunt--the influence she has had upon the poor girl.”
”I forget everything but the fact that Louise loved you, Duncan Leslie, with all her heart.”
”No, no,” he cried with an angry start.
”I tell you it is true,” cried Madelaine. ”De Ligny?--a French n.o.bleman? Absurd! A fable invented by that poor old half-crazy woman to irritate you and scare you away.”
”I might have thought so once, but after what I saw last night--”
”A jealous man surrounds all he sees with a glamour of his own,” cried Madelaine. ”Oh where is your reason? How could you be so ready to believe it of the truest, sweetest girl that ever lived!”
”But--”
”Don't speak to me,” cried Madelaine, angrily. ”You know what that old woman is with her wild ideas about birth and position. Louise, deceive her father--cheat me--elope! Duncan Leslie, I did not think you could be so weak.”
”I will not fight against your reproaches,” he said, coldly.
”No. Come with me. Let us go down and see Uncle Luke.”