I have no wish to be cured of
love for Angelique, and in fine I cannot be, so let me go and
receive the rod for coming to Belmont and the reward for leaving it
at her summons!" He affected a tone of levity, but Amelie's ear
easily detected the false ring of it.
"Dearest brother!" said she, "are you sure Angelique returns, or is
capable of returning, love like yours? She is like the rest of us,
weak and fickle, merely human, and not at all the divinity a man in
his fancy worships when in love with a woman." It was in vain,
however, for Amelie to try to persuade her brother of that.
"What care I, Amelie, so long as Angelique is not weak and fickle to
me?" answered he; "but she will think her tardy lover is both weak
and fickle unless I put in a speedy appearance at the Maison des
Meloises!" He rose up as if to depart, still holding his sister by
the hand.
Amelie's tears flowed silently in the darkness. She was not willing
to plant a seed of distrust in the bosom of her brother, yet she
remembered bitterly and indignantly what Angelique had said of her
intentions towards the Intendant.
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