cheerfully to make her guests comfortable, and welcomed them so cordially to the room which she had hastily got ready for them, that it seemed that she was the obliged party, and not they to whom she was giving shelter.
"We shall live like three princesses," she said cheerily, at breakfast on the morning after the removal; "and," she added, glancing smilingly at Marie, "one of these bright mornings, some knight in rich armor will ride up to our castle-gate, and demand one of us in marriage. Which of us do you think it will be, Marie?"
"I hope he will have taste enough to ask for you, aunt," Marie answered with a laugh.
"No doubt he will," said the little woman, "if he don't see you first. But I hope he will not come soon,"
"He's not very likely to, I think," said Marie quietly; and a sudden look from her mother denoted that their thoughts were tending in the same direction.
Monsieur Lefrette had now been dead about seven weeks; and during the whole of that time Napoleon Le Vert had not once called. His father, as the reader knows, had once announced his coming. But on his way homeward, the same evening, that gentleman had met Mr. Beman, who informed him of Lefrette's insolvency, and Napoleon did not make his appearance. His absence could not be accounted for now, as it had been for a few days, by the necessity for keeping out of the way; for De Cheville was nearly recovered, and had declared his intention to give no further notice to the assault. The elder Le Vert came frequently to consult with the widow about the business of his administration; but at no time had he ever mentioned his son's name, or hinted at the engagement between him and Marie. Once, when Madame Lefrette alluded to it, he coldly changed the subject; and when he went away, the impression was left upon the widow's mind, that he had determined wholly to ignore the contract. She did not speak of this to her daughter, however; and the glance which passed between them at the breakfast-table, as we have related, was their first communication on the subject.
The insult thus evidently meditated was the more offensive be cause the affray between Le Vert and De Cheville had made the
