One of the day-dreams of his fancy was broken, never to return. The
immense fortune and high rank of the young Chatelaine de Repentigny
had excited the cupidity of De Pean for some time, and although the
voluptuous beauty of Angelique fastened his eyes, he would willingly
have sacrificed her for the reversion of the lordships of Tilly and
Repentigny.
De Pean's soul was too small to bear with equanimity the annihilation
of his cherished hopes. As he looked down upon his white hands, his
delicate feet, and irreproachable dress and manner, he seemed not to
comprehend that a true woman like Amelie cares nothing for these
things in comparison with a manly nature that seeks a woman for her
own sake by love, and in love, and not by the accessories of wealth
and position. For such a one she would go barefoot if need were,
while golden slippers would not tempt her to walk with the other.
Amelie's beau-ideal of manhood was embodied in Pierre Philibert, and
the greatest king in Christendom would have wooed in vain at her
feet, much less an empty pretender like the Chevalier de Pean.
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