# Demoiselle Mélite — The Line of Love character guide

> Demoiselle Mélite in The Line of Love by James Branch Cabell.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mélite, the Demoiselle Mélite

**First appearance:** 0005-i-the-episode-called-the-wedding-jest

## Snapshot

A demoiselle with thin-glass laughter who tells her cousin plainly she cannot love him, then kisses him from pity and wonders if she lied.

## Who they are

Mélite receives Adhelmar's songs and his heart in the garden at Puysange, and refuses both with a tenderness that does more damage than cruelty would. She says she loves Hugues d'Arques, who has done nothing, and then wonders dimly whether she spoke the truth. Her divided impulse — pity, honesty, and self-doubt braided together — sets the two men on a collision course.

## In the story

### [The Line of Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_line_of_love_se/chapters/the-line-of-love)

A figure in the romantic landscape of the chapter, potentially representing the ideal of love versus the reality of marriage.

### [II: The Episode Called Adhelmar at Puysange](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_line_of_love_se/chapters/ii-the-episode-called-adhelmar-at-puysange)

Sister of Reinault and cousin to Adhelmar. She is affianced to Hugues d'Arques but is conflicted, feeling pity for Adhelmar. She ultimately realizes her feelings for Adhelmar were stronger than she thought, but it is too late.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_line_of_love_se/characters/melite
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_line_of_love_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_line_of_love_se/characters