"
"The countess--"
"This morning there are hopes of saving her."
"Oh!" cried the prince, while Clemence looked at him with surprise, not
comprehending his altered appearance.
"My lord," said David, still occupied with Fleur-de Marie, "there is no
cause for the slightest uneasiness. But fresh air is necessary; the chair
can be rolled on the terrace by opening the door of the garden, she will
then soon recover."
Murphy ran immediately to open the glass door, and aided by David, he
gently rolled the chair into the garden, leaving Rudolph and Clemence
alone.
CHAPTER XXII
DEVOTION.
"Ah! madame," cried Rudolph, as soon as Murphy and David had departed, "you
do not know that the Countess M'Gregor is the mother of Fleur-de-Marie!"
"Great heavens!"
"I thought her dead; and what you are still ignorant of," added Rudolph,
with bitterness, "is that this woman, as selfish as ambitious, loving me
only as a prince, had, in my younger days, contrived to lead me into a
marriage, which was afterward dissolved. Wishing then to marry again, the
countess has caused all the misfortunes of her child by abandoning her to
mercenary hands."
"Ah! now I understand the aversion that your highness had for her."
"You comprehend also why she wished to ruin you by infamous anonymous
communications! Always impelled by her implacable ambition, she thought to
force me to return to her by isolating me from all endearments.
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