The rain swept down in torrents, as if the windows of heaven were
opened to wash away the world's defilements. The stout walls of the
Manor House were immovable as rocks, but the wind and the rain and
the noise of the storm struck an awe into the two girls. They crept
closer together in their bed; they dared not separate for the night.
The storm seemed too much the reflex of the agitation of their own
minds, and they lay clasped in each other's arms, mingling their
tears and prayers for Le Gardeur until the gray dawn looked over the
eastern hill and they slept.
The Chevalier de Pean was faithful to the mission upon which he had
been despatched to Tilly. He disliked intensely the return of Le
Gardeur to renew his old ties with Angelique. But it was his fate,
his cursed crook, he called it, ever to be overborne by some woman
or other, and he resolved that Le Gardeur should pay for it with his
money, and be so flooded by wine and debauchery that Angelique
herself would repent that she had ever invited his return.
That she would not marry Le Gardeur was plain enough to De Pean,
who knew her ambitious views regarding the Intendant; and that the
Intendant would not marry her was equally a certainty to him,
although it did not prevent De Pean's entertaining an intense
jealousy of Bigot.
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