"You will say, however, that, in the second instance, there was
no elopement as imagined. Certainly not—but are we prepared to
say that there was not the frustrated design? Beyond St.
Eustache, and perhaps Beauvais, we find no recognized, no open,
no honorable suitors of Marie. Of none other is there any thing
said. Who, then, is the secret lover, of whom the relatives (at
least most of them) know nothing, but whom Marie meets upon the
morning of Sunday, and who is so deeply in her confidence, that
she hesitates not to remain with him until the shades of the
evening descend, amid the solitary groves of the Barrière du
Roule? Who is that secret lover, I ask, of whom, at least, most
of the relatives know nothing? And what means the singular
prophecy of Madame Rogêt on the morning of Marie's departure?—'I
fear that I shall never see Marie again.'
"But if we cannot imagine Madame Rogêt privy to the design of
elopement, may we not at least suppose this design entertained by
