"Happiness can never be mine, Amelie," said Heloise, after a lapse
of several minutes. "I have long feared it, now I know it. Le
Gardeur loves Angelique; he is wholly hers, and not one little
corner of his heart is left for poor Heloise to nestle in! I did
not ask much, Amelie, but I have not retained the little interest I
believed was once mine! He has thrown the whole treasure of his
life at her feet. After playing with it, she will spurn it for a
more ambitious alliance! Oh, Amelie!" exclaimed she with vivacity,
"I could be wicked! Heaven forgive me! I could be cruel and
without pity to save Le Gardeur from the wiles of such a woman!"
The night was a stormy one; the east wind, which had lain in a dead
lull through the early hours of the evening, rose in all its
strength at the turn of the tide. It came bounding like the distant
thud of a cannon. It roared and rattled against the windows and
casements of the Manor House, sounding a deep bass in the long
chimneys and howling like souls in torment amid the distant woods.
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