After two seasons of internship, Bart was granted full credentials as a Doctor of Medicine by the highly regarded University of Paris Medical School in 1885.
On his twenty-eighth birthday the twelfth of June, during an afternoon birthday and graduation celebration held for him at an old chateau in the exquisite countryside of Touraine, he contrived to invite Beth for a walk alone together in the sunny gardens. Ever on guard for his mistress, Pepper trotted near Beth with one eye, as always, leveled suspiciously at Bart.
 He led her to a bridge over the ancient moat. Swans floated among the arching piers.
"Mary Queen of Scots once lived here when she was Queen of France," he said softly. "With the death of her young husband, she too felt her life had ended. From that balcony above the entry she bade farewell to France, but in Scotland later, she established another life, married again, and bore a son. That child of new love was to become the English ruler who gave the world the King James Version of the Bible, the translation used in all of Protestant Christendom today."
Bart kissed her hands and spoke tenderly. "Mary could have remained a monument to the past, like this castle, but she let destiny have its way and carved a niche in the future instead. I want to do that with you, Beth. I do not know what God has in mind for us, but I know we belong together. Will you be my wife?"
Beth stared beyond him to the peppercorn towers of the castle. She thought of the strange voice she had heard as she left the tent of the Gypsy queen: "Marry him, child, when the time is right. He will give you the only happiness you will ever know. Forget the past. Give yourself to the future, but beware the water, beware the fire!"
Beth turned her eyes to him. "Yes, I will be your wife."
Seeming to understand, Pepper leapt up on the bench beside her and placed his little paw on their clasped hands as if in benediction, thus making his own sign - the first - of trust toward Bart.
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