Amelie's second visit to the Palace had been as fruitless as her
first. She was denied admittance, with the profoundest regrets on
the part of De Pean, who met her at the door and strove to exculpate
himself from the accusation of having persuaded Le Gardeur to depart
from Tilly, and of keeping him in the Palace against the prayers of
his friends.
De Pean remembered his presumption as well as his rejection by
Amelie at Tilly, and while his tongue ran smooth as oil in polite
regrets that Le Gardeur had resolved not to see his sister to-day,
her evident distress filled him with joy, which he rolled under his
tongue as the most delicate morsel of revenge he had ever tasted.
Bowing with well-affected politeness, De Pean attended her to her
carriage, and having seen her depart in tears, returned laughing
into the Palace, remarking, as he mimicked the weeping countenance
of Amelie, that "the Honnetes Gens had learned it was a serious
matter to come to the burial of the virtues of a young gentleman
like Le Gardeur de Repentigny."
On her return home Amelie threw herself on the neck of her aunt,
repeating in broken accents, "My poor Le Gardeur! my brother! He
refuses to see me, aunt! He is lost and ruined in that den of all
iniquity and falsehood!"
"Be composed, Amelie," replied the Lady de Tilly; "I know it is hard
to bear, but perhaps Le Gardeur did not send that message to you.
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