theVenosta
,
whose
nature
was
very
accessible
to
pity
.
Unfortunately
,
too
,
of
late
money
and
provisions
had
failed
to
Monsieur
and
Madame
Rameau
,
their
income
consisting
partly
of
rents
no
longer
paid
,
and
the
profits
of
a
sleeping
partnership
in
the
old
shop
,
from
which
custom
had
departed
;
so
that
they
came
to
share
the
fireside
and
meals
at
the
rooms
of
their
son’s
fiancee
with
little
scruple
,
because
utterly
unaware
that
the
money
retained
and
the
provisions
stored
by
the
Venosta
were
now
nearly
exhausted
.
The
patriotic
ardour
which
had
first
induced
the
elder
Rameau
to
volunteer
his
services
as
a
National
Guard
had
been
ere
this
cooled
if
not
suppressed
,
first
by
the
hardships
of
the
duty
,
and
then
by
the
disorderly
conduct
of
his
associates
,
and
their
ribald
talk
and
obscene
songs
.
He
was
much
beyond
the
age
at
which
he
could
be
registered
.
His
son
was
,
however
,
compelled
to
become
his
substitute
,
though
from
his
sickly
health
and
delicate
frame
attached
to
that
portion
of
the
National
Guard
which
took
no
part
in
actual
engagements
,
and
was
supposed
to
do
work
on
the
ramparts
and
maintain
order
in
the
city
.
In
that
duty
,
so
opposed
to
his
tastes
and
habits
,
Gustave
signalised
himself
as
one
of
the
loudest
declaimers
against
the
imbecility
of
the
Government
,
and
in
the
demand
for
immediate
and
energetic
action
,
no
matter
at
what
loss
of
life
,
on
the
part
of
all
—
except
the
heroic
force
to
which
he
himself
was
attached
.
Still
,
despite
his
military
labours
,
Gustave
found
leisure
to
contribute
to
Red
journals
,
and
his
contributions
paid
him
tolerably
well
.
To
do
him
justice
,
his
parents
concealed
from
him
the
extent
of
their
destitution
;
they
,
on
their
part
,
not
aware
that
he
was
so
able
to
assist
them
,
rather
fearing
that
he
himself
had
nothing
else
for
support
but
his
scanty
pay
as
a
National
Guard
.
In
fact
,
of
late
the
parents
and
son
had
seen
little
of
each
other
.
M
.
Rameau
,
though
a
Liberal
politician
,
was
Liberal
as
a
tradesman
,
not
as
a
Red
Republican
or
a
Socialist
.
And
,
though
little
heeding
his
son’s
theories
while
the
Empire
secured
him
from
the
practical
effect
of
them
,
he
was
now
as
sincerely
frightened
at
the
chance
of
the
Communists
becoming
rampant
as
most
of
the
Parisian
tradesmen
were
.
Madame
Rameau
,
on
her
side
,
though
she
had
the
dislike
to
aristocrats
which
was
prevalent
with
her
class
,
was
a
stanch
Roman
Catholic
;
and
seeing
in
the
disasters
that
had
befallen
her
country
the
punishment
justly
incurred
by
its
sins
,
could
not
but
be
shocked
by
the
opinions
of
Gustave
,
though
she
little
knew
that
he
was
the
author
of
certain
articles
in
certain
journals
,
in
which
these
opinions
were
proclaimed
with
a
vehemence
far
exceeding
that
which
they
assumed
in
his
conversation
.
She
had
spoken
to
him
with
warm
anger
,
mixed
with
passionate
tears
,
on
his
irreligious
principles
;
and
from
that
moment
Gustave
shunned
to
give
her
another
opportunity
of
insulting
his
pride
and
depreciating
his
wisdom
.
Partly
to
avoid
meeting
his
parents
,
partly
because
he
recoiled
almost
as
much
from
the
ennui
of
meeting
the
other
visitors
at
her
apartments
—
the
Paris
ladies
associated
with
her
in
the
ambulance
,
Raoul
de
Vandeniar
,
whom
he
especially
hated
,
and
the
Abbe
Vertpre
,
who
had
recently
come
into
intimate
friendship
with
both
the
Italian
ladies
—
his
visits
to
Isaura
had
become
exceedingly
rare
.
He
made
his
incessant
military
duties
the
pretext
for
absenting
himself
;
and
now
,
on
this
evening
,
there
were
gathered
round
Isaura’s
hearth
—
on
which
burned
almost
the
last
of
the
hoarded
fuel
—
the
Venosta
,
the
two
Rameaus
,
the
Abbe
Vertpre
,
who
was
attached
as
confessor
to
the
society
of
which
Isaura
was
so
zealous
a
member
.
The
old
priest
and
the
young
poetess
had
become
dear
friends
.
There
is
in
the
nature
of
a
woman
(
and
especially
of
a
woman
at
once
so
gifted
and
so
childlike
as
Isaura
,
combining
an
innate
tendency
towards
faith
with
a
restless
inquisitiveness
of
intellect
,
which
is
always
suggesting
query
or
doubt
)
a
craving
for
something
afar
from
the
sphere
of
her
sorrow
,
which
can
only
be
obtained
through
that
“
bridal
of
the
earth
and
sky
”
which
we
call
religion
.
And
hence
,
to
natures
like
Isaura’s
,
that
link
between
the
woman
and
the
priest
,
which
the
philosophy
of
France
has
never
been
able
to
dissever
.
“
It
is
growing
late
,
”
said
Madame
Rameau
;
“
I
am
beginning
to
feel
uneasy
.
Our
dear
Isaura
is
not
yet
returned
.
”
“
You
need
be
under
no
apprehension
,
”
said
the
Abby
.
“
The
ladies
attached
to
the
ambulance
of
which
she
is
so
tender
and
zealous
a
sister
incur
no
risk
.
There
are
always
brave
men
related
to
the
sick
and
wounded
who
see
to
the
safe
return
of
the
women
.
My
poor
Raoul
visits
that
ambulance
daily
.
His
kinsman
,
M
.
de
Rochebriant
,
is
there
among
the
wounded
.
”
“
Not
seriously
hurt
,
I
hope
,
”
said
the
Venosta
;
“
not
disfigured
?
He
was
so
handsome
;
it
is
only
the
ugly
warrior
whom
a
scar
on
the
face
improves
.
”
“
Don’t
be
alarmed
,
Signora
;
the
Prussian
guns
spared
his
face
.
His
wounds
in
themselves
were
not
dangerous
,
but
he
lost
a
good
deal
of
blood
.
Raoul
and
the
Christian
brothers
found
him
insensible
among
a
heap
of
the
slain
.
”
“
M
.
de
Vandemar
seems
to
have
very
soon
recovered
the
shock
of
his
poor
brother’s
death
,
”
said
Madame
Rameau
.
“
There
is
very
little
heart
in
an
aristocrat
.
”
The
Abbe’s
mild
brow
contracted
.
“
Have
more
charity
,
my
daughter
.
It
is
because
Raoul’s
sorrow
for
his
lost
brother
is
so
deep
and
so
holy
that
he
devotes
himself
more
than
ever
to
the
service
of
the
Father
which
is
in
heaven
.
He
said
,
a
day
or
two
after
the
burial
,
when
plans
for
a
monument
to
Enguerrand
were
submitted
to
him
:
‘May
my
prayer
be
vouchsafed
,
and
my
life
be
a
memorial
of
him
more
acceptable
to
his
gentle
spirit
than
monuments
of
bronze
or
marble
.
May
I
be
divinely
guided
and
sustained
in
my
desire
to
do
such
good
acts
as
he
would
have
done
had
he
been
spared
longer
to
earth
.
And
whenever
tempted
to
weary
,
may
my
conscience
whisper
,
Betray
not
the
trust
left
to
thee
by
thy
brother
,
lest
thou
be
not
reunited
to
him
at
last
.
”
’
“
Pardon
me
,
pardon
!
”
murmured
Madame
Rameau
humbly
,
while
the
Venosta
burst
into
tears
.
The
Abbe
,
though
a
most
sincere
and
earnest
ecclesiastic
,
was
a
cheery
and
genial
man
of
the
world
;
and
,
in
order
to
relieve
Madame
Rameau
from
the
painful
self-reproach
he
had
before
excited
,
he
turned
the
conversation
.
“
I
must
beware
,
however
,
”
he
said
,
with
his
pleasant
laugh
,
“
as
to
the
company
in
which
I
interfere
in
family
questions
;
and
especially
in
which
I
defend
my
poor
Raoul
from
any
charge
brought
against
him
.
For
some
good
friend
this
day
sent
me
a
terrible
organ
of
communistic
philosophy
,
in
which
we
humble
priests
are
very
roughly
handled
,
and
I
myself
am
especially
singled
out
by
name
as
a
pestilent
intermeddler
in
the
affairs
of
private
households
.
I
am
said
to
set
the
women
against
the
brave
men
who
are
friends
of
the
people
,
and
am
cautioned
by
very
truculent
threats
to
cease
from
such
villainous
practices
.
”
And
here
,
with
a
dry
humour
that
turned
into
ridicule
what
would
otherwise
have
excited
disgust
and
indignation
among
his
listeners
,
he
read
aloud
passages
replete
with
the
sort
of
false
eloquence
which
was
then
the
vogue
among
the
Red
journals
.
In
these
passages
,
not
only
the
Abbe
was
pointed
out
for
popular
execration
,
but
Raoul
de
Vandemar
,
though
not
expressly
named
,
was
clearly
indicated
as
a
pupil
of
the
Abbe’s
,
the
type
of
a
lay
Jesuit
.
The
Venosta
alone
did
not
share
in
the
contemptuous
laughter
with
which
the
inflated
style
of
these
diatribes
inspired
the
Rameaus
.
Her
simple
Italian
mind
was
horror-stricken
by
language
which
the
Abbe
treated
with
ridicule
.
“
Ah
!
”
said
M
.
Rameau
,
“
I
guess
the
author
—
that
firebrand
Felix
Pyat
.
”
“
No
,
”
answered
the
Abbe
;
“
the
writer
signs
himself
by
the
name
of
a
more
learned
atheist
—
Diderot
le
jeune
.
”
Here
the
door
opened
,
and
Raoul
entered
,
accompanying
Isaura
.
A
change
had
come
over
the
face
of
the
young
Vandemar
since
his
brother’s
death
.
The
lines
about
the
mouth
had
deepened
,
the
cheeks
had
lost
their
rounded
contour
and
grown
somewhat
hollow
.
But
the
expression
was
as
serene
as
ever
,
perhaps
even
less
pensively
melancholy
.
His
whole
aspect
was
that
of
a
man
who
has
sorrowed
,
but
been
supported
in
sorrow
;
perhaps
it
was
more
sweet-certainly
it
was
more
lofty
.
And
,
as
if
there
were
in
the
atmosphere
of
his
presence
something
that
communicated
the
likeness
of
his
own
soul
to
others
,
since
Isaura
had
been
brought
into
his
companionship
,
her
own
lovely
face
had
caught
the
expression
that
prevailed
in
his
—
that
,
too
,
had
become
more
sweet
—
that
,
too
,
had
become
more
lofty
.
The
friendship
that
had
grown
up
between
these
two
young
mourners
was
of
a
very
rare
nature
.
It
had
in
it
no
sentiment
that
could
ever
warm
into
the
passion
of
human
love
.
Indeed
,
had
Isaura’s
heart
been
free
to
give
away
,
love
for
Raoul
de
Vandemar
would
have
seemed
to
her
a
profanation
.
He
was
never
more
priestly
than
when
he
was
most
tender
.
And
the
tenderness
of
Raoul
towards
her
was
that
of
some
saint-like
nature
towards
the
acolyte
whom
it
attracted
upwards
.
He
had
once
,
just
before
Enguerrand’s
death
,
spoken
to
Isaura
with
a
touching
candour
as
to
his
own
predilection
for
a
monastic
life
.
“
The
worldly
avocations
that
open
useful
and
honourable
careers
for
others
have
no
charm
for
me
.
I
care
not
for
riches
nor
power
,
nor
honours
nor
fame
.
The
austerities
of
the
conventual
life
have
no
terror
for
me
;
on
the
contrary
,
they
have
a
charm
,
for
with
them
are
abstraction
from
earth
and
meditation
on
heaven
.
In
earlier
years
I
might
,
like
other
men
,
have
cherished
dreams
of
human
love
,
and
felicity
in
married
life
,
but
for
the
sort
of
veneration
with
which
I
regarded
one
to
whom
I
owe
—
humanly
speaking
—
whatever
of
good
there
may
be
in
me
.
Just
when
first
taking
my
place
among
the
society
of
young
men
who
banish
from
their
life
all
thought
of
another
,
I
came
under
the
influence
of
a
woman
who
taught
me
to
see
that
holiness
was
beauty
.
She
gradually
associated
me
with
her
acts
of
benevolence
,
and
from
her
I
learned
to
love
God
too
well
not
to
be
indulgent
to
his
creatures
.
I
know
not
whether
the
attachment
I
felt
to
her
could
have
been
inspired
in
one
who
had
not
from
childhood
conceived
a
romance
,
not
perhaps
justified
by
history
,
for
the
ideal
images
of
chivalry
.
My
feeling
for
her
at
first
was
that
of
the
pure
and
poetic
homage
which
a
young
knight
was
permitted
,
sans
reproche
,
to
render
to
some
fair
queen
or
chatelaine
,
whose
colours
he
wore
in
the
lists
,
whose
spotless
repute
he
would
have
perilled
his
life
to
defend
.
But
soon
even
that
sentiment
,
pure
as
it
was
,
became
chastened
from
all
breath
of
earthly
love
,
in
proportion
as
the
admiration
refined
itself
into
reverence
.
She
has
often
urged
me
to
marry
,
but
I
have
no
bride
on
this
earth
.
I
do
but
want
to
see
Enguerrand
happily
married
,
and
then
I
quit
the
world
for
the
cloister
.
”
But
after
Enguerrand’s
death
,
Raoul
resigned
all
idea
of
the
convent
.
That
evening
,
as
he
attended
to
their
homes
Isaura
and
the
other
ladies
at
to
the
ambulance
,
he
said
,
in
answer
to
inquiries
about
his
mother
,
“
She
is
resigned
and
calm
.
I
have
promised
her
I
will
not
,
while
she
lives
,
bury
her
other
son
:
I
renounce
my
dreams
of
the
monastery
.
”
Raoul
did
not
remain
many
minutes
at
Isaura’s
.
The
Abbe
accompanied
him
on
his
way
home
.
“
I
have
a
request
to
make
to
you
,
”
said
the
former
;
“
you
know
,
of
course
,
your
distant
cousin
the
Vicomte
de
Mauleon
?
”
“
Yes
.
Not
so
well
as
I
ought
,
for
Enguerrand
liked
him
.
”
“
Well
enough
,
at
all
events
,
to
call
on
him
with
a
request
which
I
am
commissioned
to
make
,
but
it
might
come
better
from
you
as
a
kinsman
.
I
am
a
stranger
to
him
,
and
I
know
not
whether
a
man
of
that
sort
would
not
regard
as
an
officious
intermeddling
any
communication
made
to
him
by
a
priest
.
The
matter
,
however
,
is
a
very
simple
one
.
At
the
convent
of
—
—
—
-
there
is
a
poor
nun
who
is
,
I
fear
,
dying
.
She
has
an
intense
desire
to
see
M
.
de
Mauleon
,
whom
she
declares
to
be
her
uncle
,
and
her
only
surviving
relative
.
The
laws
of
the
convent
are
not
too
austere
to
prevent
the
interview
she
seeks
in
such
a
case
.
I
should
add
that
I
am
not
acquainted
with
her
previous
history
.
I
am
not
the
confessor
of
the
sisterhood
;
he
,
poor
man
,
was
badly
wounded
by
a
chance
ball
a
few
days
ago
when
attached
to
an
ambulance
on
the
ramparts
.
As
soon
as
the
surgeon
would
allow
him
to
see
any
one
,
he
sent
for
me
,
and
bade
me
go
to
the
nun
I
speak
of
—
Sister
Ursula
.
It
seems
that
he
had
informed
her
that
M
.
de
Mauleon
was
at
Paris
,
and
had
promised
to
ascertain
his
address
.
His
wound
had
prevented
his
doing
so
,
but
he
trusted
to
me
to
procure
the
information
.
I
am
well
acquainted
with
the
Superieure
of
the
convent
,
and
I
flatter
myself
that
she
holds
me
in
esteem
.
I
had
therefore
no
difficulty
to
obtain
her
permission
to
see
this
poor
nun
,
which
I
did
this
evening
.
She
implored
me
for
the
peace
of
her
soul
to
lose
no
time
in
finding
out
M
.
de
Mauleon’s
address
,
and
entreating
him
to
visit
her
.
Lest
he
should
demur
,
I
was
to
give
him
the
name
by
which
he
had
known
her
in
the
world
—
Louise
Duval
.
Of
course
I
obeyed
.
The
address
of
a
man
who
has
so
distinguished
himself
in
this
unhappy
siege
I
very
easily
obtained
,
and
repaired
at
once
to
M
.
de
Mauleon’s
apartment
.
I
there
learned
that
he
was
from
home
,
and
it
was
uncertain
whether
he
would
not
spend
the
night
on
the
ramparts
.
”
“
I
will
not
fail
to
see
him
early
in
the
morning
,
”
said
Raoul
,
“
and
execute
your
commission
.
”
CHAPTER
IV
.
M
.
Mauleon
was
somewhat
surprised
by
Raoul’s
visit
the
next
morning
.
He
had
no
great
liking
for
a
kinsman
whose
politely
distant
reserve
towards
him
,
in
contrast
to
poor
Euguerrand’s
genial
heartiness
,
had
much
wounded
his
sensitive
self-respect
;
nor
could
he
comprehend
the
religious
scruples
which
forbade
Raoul
to
take
a
soldier’s
share
in
the
battle-field
,
though
in
seeking
there
to
save
the
lives
of
others
so
fearlessly
hazarding
his
own
life
.
“
Pardon
,
”
said
Raoul
,
with
his
sweet
mournful
smile
,
“
the
unseasonable
hour
at
which
I
disturb
you
.
But
your
duties
on
the
ramparts
and
mine
in
the
hospital
begin
early
,
and
I
have
promised
the
Abbe
Vertpre
to
communicate
a
message
of
a
nature
which
perhaps
you
may
deem
pressing
.
”
He
proceeded
at
once
to
repeat
what
the
Abbe
had
communicated
to
him
the
night
before
relative
to
the
illness
and
the
request
of
the
nun
.
“
Louise
Duval
!
”
exclaimed
the
Vicomte
,
“
discovered
at
last
,
and
a
religieuse
!
Ah
!
I
now
understand
why
she
never
sought
me
out
when
I
reappeared
at
Paris
.
Tidings
of
that
sort
do
not
penetrate
the
walls
of
a
convent
.
I
am
greatly
obliged
to
you
,
M
.
de
Vandemar
,
for
the
trouble
you
have
so
kindly
taken
.
This
poor
nun
is
related
to
me
,
and
I
will
at
once
obey
the
summons
.
But
this
convent
des
—
—
—
-
I
am
ashamed
to
say
I
know
not
where
it
is
.
A
long
way
off
,
I
suppose
?
”
“
Allow
me
to
be
your
guide
,
”
said
Raoul
;
“
I
should
take
it
as
a
favour
to
be
allowed
to
see
a
little
more
of
a
man
whom
my
lost
brother
held
in
such
esteem
.
”
Victor
was
touched
by
this
conciliatory
speech
,
and
in
a
few
minutes
more
the
two
men
were
on
their
way
to
the
convent
on
the
other
side
of
the
Seine
.
Victor
commenced
the
conversation
by
a
warm
and
heartfelt
tribute
to
Euguerrand’s
character
and
memory
.
“
I
never
,
”
he
said
,
“
knew
a
nature
more
rich
in
the
most
endearing
qualities
of
youth
;
so
gentle
,
so
high-spirited
,
rendering
every
virtue
more
attractive
,
and
redeeming
such
few
faults
or
foibles
as
youth
so
situated
and
so
tempted
cannot
wholly
escape
,
with
an
urbanity
not
conventional
,
not
artificial
,
but
reflected
from
the
frankness
of
a
genial
temper
and
the
tenderness
of
a
generous
heart
.
Be
comforted
for
his
loss
,
my
kinsman
.
A
brave
death
was
the
proper
crown
of
that
beautiful
life
.
”
Raoul
made
no
answer
,
but
pressed
gratefully
the
arm
now
linked
within
his
own
.
The
companions
walked
on
in
silence
;
Victor’s
mind
settling
on
the
visit
he
was
about
to
make
to
the
niece
so
long
mysteriously
lost
,
and
now
so
unexpectedly
found
.
Louise
had
inspired
him
with
a
certain
interest
from
her
beauty
and
force
of
character
,
but
never
with
any
warm
affection
.
He
felt
relieved
to
find
that
her
life
had
found
its
close
in
the
sanctuary
of
the
convent
.
He
had
never
divested
himself
of
a
certain
fear
,
inspired
by
Louvier’s
statement
that
she
might
live
to
bring
scandal
and
disgrace
on
the
name
he
had
with
so
much
difficulty
,
and
after
so
lengthened
an
anguish
,
partially
cleared
in
his
own
person
.
Raoul
left
De
Mauleon
at
the
gate
of
the
convent
,
and
took
his
way
towards
the
hospitals
where
he
visited
,
and
the
poor
whom
he
relieved
.
Victor
was
conducted
silently
into
the
convent
parloir
;
and
,
after
waiting
there
several
minutes
,
the
door
opened
,
and
the
Superieure
entered
.
As
she
advanced
towards
him
,
with
stately
step
and
solemn
visage
,
De
Mauleon
recoiled
,
and
uttered
a
half-suppressed
exclamation
that
partook
both
of
amaze
and
awe
.
Could
it
be
possible
?
Was
this
majestic
woman
,
with
the
grave
impassible
aspect
,
once
the
ardent
girl
whose
tender
letters
he
had
cherished
through
stormy
years
,
and
only
burned
on
the
night
before
the
most
perilous
of
his
battle-fields
?
This
the
one
,
the
sole
one
,
whom
in
his
younger
dreams
he
had
seen
as
his
destined
wife
?
It
was
so
—
it
was
.
Doubt
vanished
when
he
heard
her
voice
;
and
yet
how
different
every
tone
,
every
accent
,
from
those
of
the
low
,
soft
,
thrilling
music
that
had
breathed
in
the
voice
of
old
!
“
M
.
de
Mauleon
,
”
said
the
Superieure
,
calmly
,
“
I
grieve
to
sadden
you
by
very
mournful
intelligence
.
Yesterday
evening
,
when
the
Abbe
undertook
to
convey
to
you
the
request
of
our
Sister
Ursula
,
although
she
was
beyond
mortal
hope
of
recovery
—
as
otherwise
you
will
conceive
that
I
could
not
have
relaxed
the
rules
of
this
house
so
as
to
sanction
your
visit
—
there
was
no
apprehension
of
immediate
danger
.
It
was
believed
that
her
sufferings
would
be
prolonged
for
some
days
.
I
saw
her
late
last
night
before
retiring
to
my
cell
,
and
she
seemed
even
stronger
than
she
had
been
for
the
last
week
.
A
sister
remained
at
watch
in
her
cell
.
Towards
morning
she
fell
into
apparently
quiet
sleep
,
and
in
that
sleep
she
passed
away
.
”
The
Superieure
here
crossed
herself
,
and
murmured
pious
words
in
Latin
.
“
Dead
!
my
poor
niece
!
”
said
Victor
,
feelingly
,
roused
from
his
stun
at
the
first
sight
of
the
Superieure
by
her
measured
tones
,
and
the
melancholy
information
she
so
composedly
conveyed
to
him
.
“
I
cannot
,
then
,
even
learn
why
she
so
wished
to
see
me
once
more
,
—
or
what
she
might
have
requested
at
my
hands
!
”
“
Pardon
,
M
.
le
Vicomte
.
Such
sorrowful
consolation
I
have
resolved
to
afford
you
,
not
without
scruples
of
conscience
,
but
not
without
sanction
of
the
excellent
Abbe
Vertpre
,
whom
I
summoned
early
this
morning
to
decide
my
duties
in
the
sacred
office
I
hold
.
As
soon
as
Sister
Ursula
heard
of
your
return
to
Paris
,
she
obtained
my
permission
to
address
to
you
a
letter
,
subjected
,
when
finished
,
to
my
perusal
and
sanction
.
She
felt
that
she
had
much
on
her
mind
which
her
feeble
state
might
forbid
her
to
make
known
to
you
in
conversation
with
‘sufficient
fulness
;
and
as
she
could
only
have
seen
you
in
presence
of
one
of
the
sisters
she
imagined
that
there
would
also
be
less
restraint
in
a
written
communication
.
In
fine
,
her
request
was
that
,
when
you
called
,
I
might
first
place
this
letter
in
your
hands
,
and
allow
you
time
to
read
it
,
before
being
admitted
to
her
presence
;
when
a
few
words
conveying
your
promise
to
attend
to
the
wishes
with
which
you
would
then
be
acquainted
,
would
suffice
for
an
interview
in
her
exhausted
condition
.
Do
I
make
myself
understood
?
”
“
Certainly
,
Madame
,
—
and
the
letter
?
”
“
She
had
concluded
last
evening
;
and
when
I
took
leave
of
her
later
in
the
night
,
she
placed
it
in
my
hands
for
approval
.
M
.
le
Vicomte
,
it
pains
me
to
say
that
there
is
much
in
the
tone
of
that
letter
which
I
grieve
for
and
condemn
.
And
it
was
my
intention
to
point
this
out
to
our
sister
at
morning
,
and
tell
her
that
passages
must
be
altered
before
I
could
give
to
you
the
letter
.
Her
sudden
decease
deprived
me
of
this
opportunity
.
I
could
not
,
of
course
,
alter
or
erase
a
line
—
a
word
.
My
only
option
was
to
suppress
the
letter
altogether
,
or
give
it
you
intact
.
The
Abbe
thinks
that
,
on
the
whole
,
my
duty
does
not
forbid
the
dictate
of
my
own
impulse
—
my
own
feelings
;
and
I
now
place
this
letter
in
your
hands
.
”
De
Mauleon
took
a
packet
,
unsealed
,
from
the
thin
white
fingers
of
the
Superieure
;
and
as
he
bent
to
receive
it
,
lifted
towards
her
eyes
eloquent
with
sorrowful
,
humble
pathos
,
in
which
it
was
impossible
for
the
heart
of
a
woman
who
had
loved
not
to
see
a
reference
to
the
past
which
the
lips
did
not
dare
to
utter
.
A
faint
,
scarce-perceptible
blush
stole
over
the
marble
cheek
of
the
nun
.
But
,
with
an
exquisite
delicacy
,
in
which
survived
the
woman
while
reigned
the
nun
,
she
replied
to
the
appeal
.
“
M
.
Victor
de
Mauleon
,
before
,
having
thus
met
,
we
part
for
ever
,
permit
a
poor
religieuse
to
say
with
what
joy
—
a
joy
rendered
happier
because
it
was
tearful
—
I
have
learned
through
the
Abbe
Vertpre
that
the
honour
which
,
as
between
man
and
man
,
no
one
who
had
once
known
you
could
ever
doubt
,
you
have
lived
to
vindicate
from
calumny
.
”
“
Ah
;
you
have
heard
that
—
at
last
,
at
last
!
”
“
I
repeat
—
of
the
honour
thus
deferred
,
I
never
doubted
.
”
The
Superieure
hurried
on
.
“
Greater
joy
it
has
been
to
me
to
hear
from
the
same
venerable
source
that
,
while
found
bravest
among
the
defenders
of
your
country
,
you
are
clear
from
all
alliance
with
the
assailants
of
your
God
.
Continue
so
,
continue
so
,
Victor
de
Mauleon
.
”
She
retreated
to
the
door
,
and
then
turned
towards
him
with
a
look
in
which
all
the
marble
had
melted
away
,
adding
,
with
words
more
formally
nunlike
,
yet
unmistakably
womanlike
,
than
those
which
had
gone
before
,
“
That
to
the
last
you
may
be
true
to
God
,
is
a
prayer
never
by
me
omitted
.
”
She
spoke
,
and
vanished
.
In
a
kind
of
dim
and
dreamlike
bewilderment
,
Victor
de
Mauleon
found
himself
without
the
walls
of
the
convent
.
Mechanically
,
as
a
man
does
when
the
routine
of
his
life
is
presented
to
him
,
from
the
first
Minister
of
State
to
the
poor
clown
at
a
suburban
theatre
,
doomed
to
appear
at
their
posts
,
to
prose
on
a
Beer
Bill
,
or
grin
through
a
horse-collar
,
though
their
hearts
are
bleeding
at
every
pore
with
some
household
or
secret
affliction
,
—
mechanically
De
Mauldon
went
his
way
towards
the
ramparts
,
at
a
section
of
which
he
daily
drilled
his
raw
recruits
.
Proverbial
for
his
severity
towards
those
who
offended
,
for
the
cordiality
of
his
praise
of
those
who
pleased
his
soldierly
judgment
,
no
change
of
his
demeanour
was
visible
that
morning
,
save
that
he
might
be
somewhat
milder
to
the
one
,
somewhat
less
hearty
to
the
other
.
This
routine
duty
done
,
he
passed
slowly
towards
a
more
deserted
because
a
more
exposed
part
of
the
defences
,
and
seated
himself
on
the
frozen
sward
alone
.
The
cannon
thundered
around
him
.
He
heard
unconsciously
:
from
time
to
time
an
obus
hissed
and
splintered
close
at
his
feet
;
—
he
saw
with
abstracted
eye
.
His
soul
was
with
the
past
;
and
,
brooding
over
all
that
in
the
past
lay
buried
there
,
came
over
him
a
conviction
of
the
vanity
of
the
human
earth-bounded
objects
for
which
we
burn
or
freeze
,
far
more
absolute
than
had
grown
out
of
the
worldly
cynicism
connected
with
his
worldly
ambition
.
The
sight
of
that
face
,
associated
with
the
one
pure
romance
of
his
reckless
youth
,
the
face
of
one
so
estranged
,
so
serenely
aloft
from
all
memories
of
youth
,
of
romance
,
of
passion
,
smote
him
in
the
midst
of
the
new
hopes
of
the
new
career
,
as
the
look
on
the
skull
of
the
woman
he
had
so
loved
and
so
mourned
,
when
disburied
from
her
grave
,
smote
the
brilliant
noble
who
became
the
stern
reformer
of
La
Trappe
.
And
while
thus
gloomily
meditating
,
the
letter
of
the
poor
Louise
Duval
was
forgotten
.
She
whose
existence
had
so
troubled
,
and
crossed
,
and
partly
marred
the
lives
of
others
,
—
she
,
scarcely
dead
,
and
already
forgotten
by
her
nearest
kin
.
Well
—
had
she
not
forgotten
,
put
wholly
out
of
her
mind
,
all
that
was
due
to
those
much
nearer
to
her
than
is
an
uncle
to
a
niece
?
The
short
,
bitter
,
sunless
day
was
advancing
towards
its
decline
before
Victor
roused
himself
with
a
quick
impatient
start
from
his
reverie
,
and
took
forth
the
letter
from
the
dead
nun
.
It
began
with
expressions
of
gratitude
,
of
joy
at
the
thought
that
she
should
see
him
again
before
she
died
,
thank
him
for
his
past
kindness
,
and
receive
,
she
trusted
,
his
assurance
that
he
would
attend
to
her
last
remorseful
injunctions
.
I
pass
over
much
that
followed
in
the
explanation
of
events
in
her
life
sufficiently
known
to
the
reader
.
She
stated
,
as
the
strongest
reason
why
she
had
refused
the
hand
of
Louvier
,
her
knowledge
that
she
should
in
due
time
become
a
mother
—
a
fact
concealed
from
Victor
,
secure
that
he
would
then
urge
her
not
to
annul
her
informal
marriage
,
but
rather
insist
on
the
ceremonies
that
would
render
it
valid
.
She
touched
briefly
on
her
confidential
intimacy
with
Madame
Marigny
,
the
exchange
of
name
and
papers
,
her
confinement
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Aix
,
the
child
left
to
the
care
of
the
nurse
,
the
journey
to
Munich
to
find
the
false
Louise
Duval
was
no
more
.
The
documents
obtained
through
the
agency
of
her
easy-tempered
kinsman
,
the
late
Marquis
de
Rochebriant
,
and
her
subsequent
domestication
in
the
house
of
the
von
Rudesheims
,
—
all
this
it
is
needless
to
do
more
here
than
briefly
recapitulate
.
The
letter
then
went
on
:
“
While
thus
kindly
treated
by
the
family
with
whom
nominally
a
governess
,
I
was
on
the
terms
of
a
friend
with
Signor
Ludovico
Cicogna
,
an
Italian
of
noble
birth
.
He
was
the
only
man
I
ever
cared
for
.
I
loved
him
with
frail
human
passion
.
I
could
not
tell
him
,
my
true
history
.
I
could
not
tell
him
that
I
had
a
child
;
such
intelligence
would
have
made
him
renounce
me
at
once
.
He
had
a
daughter
,
still
but
an
infant
,
by
a
former
marriage
,
then
brought
up
in
France
.
He
wished
to
take
her
to
his
house
,
and
his
second
wife
to
supply
the
place
of
her
mother
.
What
was
I
to
do
with
the
child
I
had
left
near
Aix
?
While
doubtful
and
distracted
,
I
read
an
advertisement
in
the
journals
to
the
effect
that
a
French
lady
,
then
staying
in
Coblentz
,
wished
to
adopt
a
female
child
not
exceeding
the
age
of
six
:
the
child
to
be
wholly
resigned
to
her
by
the
parents
,
she
undertaking
to
rear
and
provide
for
it
as
her
own
.
I
resolved
to
go
to
Coblentz
at
once
.
I
did
so
.
I
saw
this
lady
.
She
seemed
in
affluent
circumstances
,
yet
young
,
but
a
confirmed
invalid
,
confined
the
greater
part
of
the
day
to
her
sofa
by
some
malady
of
the
spine
.
She
told
me
very
frankly
her
story
.
She
had
been
a
professional
dancer
on
the
stage
,
had
married
respectably
,
quitted
the
stage
,
become
a
widow
,
and
shortly
afterwards
been
seized
with
the
complaint
that
would
probably
for
life
keep
her
a
secluded
prisoner
in
her
room
.
Thus
afflicted
,
and
without
tie
,
interest
,
or
object
in
the
world
,
she
conceived
the
idea
of
adopting
a
child
that
she
might
bring
up
to
tend
and
cherish
her
as
a
daughter
.
In
this
,
the
imperative
condition
was
that
the
child
should
never
be
sought
by
the
parents
.
She
was
pleased
by
my
manner
and
appearance
:
she
did
not
wish
her
adopted
daughter
to
be
the
child
of
peasants
.
She
asked
me
for
no
references
,
—
made
no
inquiries
.
She
said
cordially
that
she
wished
for
no
knowledge
that
,
through
any
indiscretion
of
her
own
,
communicated
to
the
child
might
lead
her
to
seek
the
discovery
of
her
real
parents
.
In
fine
,
I
left
Coblentz
on
the
understanding
that
I
was
to
bring
the
infant
,
and
if
it
pleased
Madame
Surville
,
the
agreement
was
concluded
.
“
I
then
repaired
to
Aix
.
I
saw
the
child
.
Alas
!
unnatural
mother
that
I
was
,
the
sight
only
more
vividly
brought
before
me
the
sense
of
my
own
perilous
position
.
Yet
the
child
was
lovely
!
a
likeness
of
myself
,
but
lovelier
far
,
for
it
was
a
pure
,
innocent
,
gentle
loveliness
.
And
they
told
her
to
call
me
‘Maman.’
Oh
,
did
I
not
relent
when
I
heard
that
name
?
No
;
it
jarred
on
my
ear
as
a
word
of
reproach
and
shame
.
In
walking
with
the
infant
towards
the
railway
station
,
imagine
my
dismay
when
suddenly
I
met
the
man
who
had
been
taught
to
believe
me
dead
.
I
soon
discovered
that
his
dismay
was
equal
to
my
own
,
—
that
I
had
nothing
to
fear
from
his
desire
to
claim
me
.
It
did
occur
to
me
for
a
moment
to
resign
his
child
to
him
.
But
when
he
shrank
reluctantly
from
a
half
suggestion
to
that
effect
,
my
pride
was
wounded
,
my
conscience
absolved
.
And
,
after
all
,
it
might
be
unsafe
to
my
future
to
leave
with
him
any
motive
for
tracing
me
.
I
left
him
hastily
.
I
have
never
seen
nor
heard
of
him
more
.
I
took
the
child
to
Coblentz
.
Madame
Surville
was
charmed
with
its
prettiness
and
prattle
,
—
charmed
still
more
when
I
rebuked
the
poor
infant
for
calling
me
‘Maman
,
’
and
said
,
‘Thy
real
mother
is
here.’
Freed
from
my
trouble
,
I
returned
to
the
kind
German
roof
I
had
quitted
,
and
shortly
after
became
the
wife
of
Ludovico
Cicogna
.
“
My
punishment
soon
began
.
His
was
a
light
,
fickle
,
pleasure-hunting
nature
.
He
soon
grew
weary
of
me
.
My
very
love
made
me
unamiable
to
him
.
I
became
irritable
,
jealous
,
exacting
.
His
daughter
,
who
now
came
to
live
with
us
,
was
another
subject
of
discord
.
I
knew
that
he
loved
her
better
than
me
.
I
became
a
harsh
step-mother
;
and
Ludovico’s
reproaches
,
vehemently
made
,
nursed
all
my
angriest
passions
.
But
a
son
of
this
new
marriage
was
born
to
myself
.
My
pretty
Luigi
!
how
my
heart
became
wrapt
up
in
him
!
Nursing
him
,
I
forgot
resentment
against
his
father
.
Well
,
poor
Cicogna
fell
ill
and
died
.
I
mourned
him
sincerely
;
but
my
boy
was
left
.
Poverty
then
fell
on
me
,
—
poverty
extreme
.
Cicogna’s
sole
income
was
derived
from
a
post
in
the
Austrian
dominion
in
Italy
,
and
ceased
with
it
.
He
received
a
small
pension
in
compensation
;
that
died
with
him
.
“
At
this
time
,
an
Englishman
,
with
whom
Ludovico
had
made
acquaintance
in
Venice
,
and
who
visited
often
at
our
house
in
Verona
,
offered
me
his
hand
.
He
had
taken
an
extraordinary
liking
to
Isaura
,
Cicogna’s
daughter
by
his
first
marriage
.
But
I
think
his
proposal
was
dictated
partly
by
compassion
for
me
,
and
more
by
affection
for
her
.
For
the
sake
of
my
boy
Luigi
I
married
him
.
He
was
a
good
man
,
of
retired
learned
habits
with
which
I
had
no
sympathy
.
His
companionship
overwhelmed
me
with
ennui
.
But
I
bore
it
patiently
for
Luigi’s
sake
.
God
saw
that
my
heart
was
as
much
as
ever
estranged
from
Him
,
and
He
took
away
my
all
on
earth
—
my
boy
.
Then
in
my
desolation
I
turned
to
our
Holy
Church
for
comfort
.
I
found
a
friend
in
the
priest
,
my
confessor
.
I
was
startled
to
learn
from
him
how
guilty
I
had
been
—
was
still
.
Pushing
to
an
extreme
the
doctrines
of
the
Church
,
he
would
not
allow
that
my
first
marriage
,
though
null
by
law
,
was
void
in
the
eyes
of
Heaven
.
Was
not
the
death
of
the
child
I
so
cherished
a
penalty
due
to
my
sin
towards
the
child
I
had
abandoned
?
“
These
thoughts
pressed
on
me
night
and
day
.
With
the
consent
and
approval
of
the
good
priest
,
I
determined
to
quit
the
roof
of
M
.
Selby
,
and
to
devote
myself
to
the
discovery
of
my
forsaken
Julie
.
“
I
had
a
painful
interview
with
M
.
Selby
.
I
announced
my
intention
to
separate
from
him
.
I
alleged
as
a
reason
my
conscientious
repugnance
to
live
with
a
professed
heretic
—
an
enemy
to
our
Holy
Church
.
When
M
.
Selby
found
that
he
could
not
shake
my
resolution
,
he
lent
himself
to
it
with
the
forbearance
and
generosity
which
he
had
always
exhibited
.
On
our
marriage
he
had
settled
on
me
five
thousand
pounds
,
to
be
absolutely
mine
in
the
event
of
his
death
.
He
now
proposed
to
concede
to
me
the
interest
on
that
capital
during
his
life
,
and
he
undertook
the
charge
of
my
step-daughter
Isaura
,
and
secured
to
her
all
the
rest
he
had
to
leave
;
such
landed
property
as
he
possessed
in
England
passing
to
a
distant
relative
.
“
So
we
parted
,
not
with
hostility
—
tears
were
shed
on
both
sides
.
I
set
out
for
Coblentz
.
Madame
Surville
had
long
since
quitted
that
town
,
devoting
some
years
to
the
round
of
various
mineral
spas
in
vain
hope
of
cure
.
Not
without
some
difficulty
I
traced
her
to
her
last
residence
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Paris
,
but
she
was
then
no
more
—
her
death
accelerated
by
the
shock
occasioned
by
the
loss
of
her
whole
fortune
,
which
she
had
been
induced
to
place
in
one
of
the
numerous
fraudulent
companies
by
which
so
many
have
been
ruined
.
Julie
,
who
was
with
her
at
the
time
of
her
death
,
had
disappeared
shortly
after
it
—
none
could
tell
me
whither
;
but
from
such
hints
as
I
could
gather
,
the
poor
child
,
thus
left
destitute
,
had
been
betrayed
into
sinful
courses
.
“
Probably
I
might
yet
by
searching
inquiry
have
found
her
out
;
you
will
say
it
was
my
duty
at
least
to
institute
such
inquiry
.
No
doubt
;
I
now
remorsefully
feel
that
it
was
.
I
did
not
think
so
at
the
time
.
The
Italian
priest
had
given
me
a
few
letters
of
introduction
to
French
ladies
with
whom
,
when
they
had
sojourned
at
Florence
,
he
had
made
acquaintance
.
These
ladies
were
very
strict
devotees
,
formal
observers
of
those
decorums
by
which
devotion
proclaims
itself
to
the
world
.
They
had
received
me
not
only
with
kindness
but
with
marked
respect
.
They
chose
to
exalt
into
the
noblest
self-sacrifice
the
act
of
my
leaving
M
.
Selby’s
house
.
Exaggerating
the
simple
cause
assigned
to
it
in
the
priest’s
letter
,
they
represented
me
as
quitting
a
luxurious
home
and
an
idolising
husband
rather
than
continue
intimate
intercourse
with
the
enemy
of
my
religion
.
This
new
sort
of
flattery
intoxicated
me
with
its
fumes
.
I
recoiled
from
the
thought
of
shattering
the
pedestal
to
which
I
had
found
myself
elevated
.
What
if
I
should
discover
my
daughter
in
one
from
the
touch
of
whose
robe
these
holy
women
would
recoil
as
from
the
rags
of
a
leper
!
No
;
it
would
be
impossible
for
me
to
own
her
—
impossible
for
me
to
give
her
the
shelter
of
my
roof
.
Nay
,
if
discovered
to
hold
any
commune
with
such
an
outcast
,
no
explanation
,
no
excuse
short
of
the
actual
truth
,
would
avail
with
these
austere
judges
of
human
error
.
And
the
actual
truth
would
be
yet
deeper
disgrace
.
I
reasoned
away
my
conscience
.
If
I
looked
for
example
in
the
circles
in
which
I
had
obtained
reverential
place
,
I
could
find
no
instance
in
which
a
girl
who
had
fallen
from
virtue
was
not
repudiated
by
her
nearest
relatives
.
Nay
,
when
I
thought
of
my
own
mother
,
had
not
her
father
refused
to
see
her
,
to
acknowledge
her
child
,
from
no
other
offence
than
that
of
a
misalliance
which
wounded
the
family
pride
?
That
pride
,
alas
!
was
in
my
blood
—
my
sole
inheritance
from
the
family
I
sprang
from
.
“
Thus
it
went
on
,
till
I
had
grave
symptoms
of
a
disease
which
rendered
the
duration
of
my
life
uncertain
.
My
conscience
awoke
and
tortured
me
.
I
resolved
to
take
the
veil
.
Vanity
and
pride
again
!
My
resolution
was
applauded
by
those
whose
opinion
had
so
swayed
my
mind
and
my
conduct
.
Before
I
retired
into
the
convent
from
which
I
write
,
I
made
legal
provision
as
to
the
bulk
of
the
fortune
which
,
by
the
death
of
M
.
Selby
,
has
become
absolutely
at
my
disposal
.
One
thousand
pounds
amply
sufficed
for
dotation
to
the
convent
:
the
other
four
thousand
pounds
are
given
in
trust
to
the
eminent
notary
,
M
.
Nadaud
,
Rue
—
—
—
-
.
On
applying
to
him
,
you
will
find
that
the
sum
,
with
the
accumulated
interest
,
is
bequeathed
to
you
,
—
a
tribute
of
gratitude
for
the
assistance
you
afforded
me
in
the
time
of
your
own
need
,
and
the
kindness
with
which
you
acknowledged
our
relationship
and
commiserated
my
misfortunes
.
“
But
oh
,
my
uncle
,
find
out
—
a
man
can
do
so
with
a
facility
not
accorded
to
a
woman
—
what
has
become
of
this
poor
Julie
,
and
devote
what
you
may
deem
right
and
just
of
the
sum
thus
bequeathed
to
place
her
above
want
and
temptation
.
In
doing
so
,
I
know
you
will
respect
my
name
:
I
would
not
have
it
dishonour
you
,
indeed
.
“
I
have
been
employed
in
writing
this
long
letter
since
the
day
I
heard
you
were
in
Paris
.
It
has
exhausted
the
feeble
remnants
of
my
strength
.
It
will
be
given
to
you
before
the
interview
I
at
once
dread
and
long
for
,
and
in
that
interview
you
will
not
rebuke
me
.
Will
you
,
my
kind
uncle
?
No
,
you
will
only
soothe
and
pity
!
“
Would
that
I
were
worthy
to
pray
for
others
,
that
I
might
add
,
‘May
the
Saints
have
you
in
their
keeping
and
lead
you
to
faith
in
the
Holy
Church
,
which
has
power
to
absolve
from
sins
those
who
repent
as
I
do.’
”
The
letter
dropped
from
Victor’s
hand
.
He
took
it
up
,
smoothed
it
mechanically
,
and
with
a
dim
,
abstracted
,
be
wildered
,
pitiful
wonder
.
Well
might
the
Superieure
have
hesitated
to
allow
confessions
,
betraying
a
mind
so
little
regulated
by
genuine
religious
faith
,
to
pass
into
other
hands
.
Evidently
it
was
the
paramount
duty
of
rescuing
from
want
or
from
sin
the
writer’s
forsaken
child
,
that
had
overborne
all
other
considerations
in
the
mind
of
the
Woman
and
the
Priest
she
consulted
.
Throughout
that
letter
,
what
a
strange
perversion
of
understanding
!
what
a
half-unconscious
confusion
of
wrong
and
right
!
—
the
duty
marked
out
so
obvious
and
so
neglected
;
even
the
religious
sentiment
awakened
by
the
conscience
so
dividing
itself
from
the
moral
instinct
!
the
dread
of
being
thought
less
religious
by
obscure
comparative
strangers
stronger
than
the
moral
obligation
to
discover
and
reclaim
the
child
for
whose
errors
,
if
she
had
erred
,
the
mother
who
so
selfishly
forsook
her
was
alone
responsible
!
even
at
the
last
,
at
the
approach
of
death
,
the
love
for
a
name
she
had
never
made
a
self-sacrifice
to
preserve
unstained
;
and
that
concluding
exhortation
,
—
that
reliance
on
a
repentance
in
which
there
was
so
qualified
a
reparation
!
More
would
Victor
de
Mauldon
have
wondered
had
he
known
those
points
of
similarity
in
character
,
and
in
the
nature
of
their
final
bequests
,
between
Louise
Duval
and
the
husband
she
had
deserted
.
By
one
of
those
singular
coincidences
which
,
if
this
work
be
judged
by
the
ordinary
rules
presented
to
the
ordinary
novel-reader
,
a
critic
would
not
unjustly
impute
to
defective
invention
in
the
author
,
the
provision
for
this
child
,
deprived
of
its
natural
parents
during
their
lives
,
is
left
to
the
discretion
and
honour
of
trustees
,
accompanied
on
the
part
of
the
consecrated
Louise
and
“
the
blameless
King
,
”
with
the
injunction
of
respect
to
their
worldly
reputations
—
two
parents
so
opposite
in
condition
,
in
creed
,
in
disposition
,
yet
assimilating
in
that
point
of
individual
character
in
which
it
touches
the
wide
vague
circle
of
human
opinion
.
For
this
,
indeed
,
the
excuses
of
Richard
King
are
strong
,
inasmuch
as
the
secrecy
he
sought
was
for
the
sake
,
not
of
his
own
memory
,
but
that
of
her
whom
the
world
knew
only
as
his
honoured
wife
.
The
conduct
of
Louise
admits
no
such
excuse
;
she
dies
as
she
had
lived
;
an
Egotist
.
But
,
whatever
the
motives
of
the
parents
,
what
is
the
fate
of
the
deserted
child
?
What
revenge
does
the
worldly
opinion
,
which
the
parents
would
escape
for
themselves
,
inflict
on
the
innocent
infant
to
whom
the
bulk
of
their
worldly
possessions
is
to
be
clandestinely
conveyed
?
Would
all
the
gold
of
Ophir
be
compensation
enough
for
her
?
Slowly
De
Mauleon
roused
himself
,
and
turned
from
the
solitary
place
where
he
had
been
seated
to
a
more
crowded
part
of
the
ramparts
.
He
passed
a
group
of
young
Moblots
,
with
flowers
wreathed
round
their
gun-barrels
.
“
If
,
”
said
one
of
them
gaily
,
“
Paris
wants
bread
,
it
never
wants
flowers
.
”
His
companions
laughed
merrily
,
and
burst
out
into
a
scurrile
song
in
ridicule
of
St.
Trochu
.
Just
then
an
obus
fell
a
few
yards
before
the
group
.
The
sound
only
for
a
moment
drowned
the
song
,
but
the
splinters
struck
a
man
in
a
coarse
,
ragged
dress
,
who
had
stopped
to
listen
to
the
singers
.
At
his
sharp
cry
,
two
men
hastened
to
his
side
:
one
was
Victor
de
Mauleon
;
the
other
was
a
surgeon
,
who
quitted
another
group
of
idlers
—
National
Guards
—
attracted
by
the
shriek
that
summoned
his
professional
aid
.
The
poor
man
was
terribly
wounded
.
The
surgeon
,
glancing
at
De
Mauleon
,
shrugged
his
shoulders
,
and
muttered
,
“
Past
help
!
”
The
sufferer
turned
his
haggard
eyes
on
the
Vicomte
,
and
gasped
out
,
“
M
.
de
Mauleon
?
”
“
That
is
my
name
,
”
answered
Victor
,
surprised
,
and
not
immediately
recognising
the
sufferer
.
“
Hist
,
Jean
Lebeau
!
—
look
at
me
:
you
recollect
me
now
,
—
Mart
le
Roux
,
concierge
to
the
Secret
Council
.
Ay
,
I
found
out
who
you
were
long
ago
—
followed
you
home
from
the
last
meeting
you
broke
up
.
But
I
did
not
betray
you
,
or
you
would
have
been
murdered
long
since
.
Beware
of
the
old
set
—
beware
of
—
of
—
”
Here
his
voice
broke
off
into
shrill
exclamations
of
pain
.
Curbing
his
last
agonies
with
a
powerful
effort
,
he
faltered
forth
,
“
You
owe
me
a
service
—
see
to
the
little
one
at
home
—
she
is
starving
.
”
The
death-rale
came
on
;
in
a
few
moments
he
was
no
more
.
Victor
gave
orders
for
the
removal
of
the
corpse
,
and
hurried
away
.
The
surgeon
,
who
had
changed
countenance
when
he
overheard
the
name
in
which
the
dying
man
had
addressed
De
Mauleon
,
gazed
silently
after
De
Mauleon’s
retreating
form
,
and
then
,
also
quitting
the
dead
,
rejoined
the
group
he
had
quitted
.
Some
of
those
who
composed
it
acquired
evil
renown
later
in
the
war
of
the
Communists
,
and
came
to
disastrous
ends
:
among
that
number
the
Pole
Loubinsky
and
other
members
of
the
Secret
Council
.
The
Italian
Raselli
was
there
too
,
but
,
subtler
than
his
French
confreres
,
he
divined
the
fate
of
the
Communists
,
and
glided
from
it
—
safe
now
in
his
native
land
,
destined
there
,
no
doubt
,
to
the
funereal
honours
and
lasting
renown
which
Italy
bestows
on
the
dust
of
her
sons
who
have
advocated
assassination
out
of
love
for
the
human
race
.
Amid
this
group
,
too
,
was
a
National
Guard
,
strayed
from
his
proper
post
,
and
stretched
on
the
frozen
ground
;
and
,
early
though
the
hour
,
in
the
profound
sleep
of
intoxication
.
“
So
,
”
said
Loubinsky
,
“
you
have
found
your
errand
in
vain
,
Citizen
le
Noy
;
another
victim
to
the
imbecility
of
our
generals
.
”
“
And
partly
one
of
us
,
”
replied
the
Medecin
des
Pauvres
.
“
You
remember
poor
le
Roux
,
who
kept
the
old
baraque
where
the
Council
of
Ten
used
to
meet
?
Yonder
he
lies
.
”
“
Don’t
talk
of
the
Council
of
Ten
.
What
fools
and
dupes
we
were
made
by
that
vieux
gredin
,
Jean
Lebeau
!
How
I
wish
I
could
meet
him
again
!
”
Gaspard
le
Noy
smiled
sarcastically
.
“
So
much
the
worse
for
you
,
if
you
did
.
A
muscular
and
a
ruthless
fellow
is
that
Jean
Lebeau
!
”
Therewith
he
turned
to
the
drunken
sleeper
and
woke
him
up
with
a
shake
and
a
kick
.
“
Armand
—
Armand
Monnier
,
I
say
,
rise
,
rub
your
eyes
.
What
if
you
are
called
to
your
post
?
What
if
you
are
shamed
as
a
deserter
and
a
coward
?
”
Armand
turned
,
rose
with
an
effort
from
the
recumbent
to
the
sitting
posture
,
and
stared
dizzily
in
the
face
of
the
Medecin
des
Pauvres
.
“
I
was
dreaming
that
I
had
caught
by
the
throat
,
”
said
Armand
,
wildly
,
“
the
aristo
who
shot
my
brother
;
and
lo
,
there
were
two
men
,
Victor
de
Mauleon
and
Jean
Lebeau
.
”
“
Ah
!
there
is
something
in
dreams
,
”
said
the
surgeon
.
“
Once
in
a
thousand
times
a
dream
comes
true
.
”
CHAPTER
V.
The
time
now
came
when
all
provision
of
food
or
of
fuel
failed
the
modest
household
of
Isaura
;
and
there
was
not
only
herself
and
the
Venosta
to
feed
and
warm
—
there
were
the
servants
whom
they
had
brought
from
Italy
,
and
had
not
the
heart
now
to
dismiss
to
the
‘certainty
of
famine
.
True
,
one
of
the
three
,
the
man
,
had
returned
to
his
native
land
before
the
commencement
of
the
siege
;
but
the
two
women
had
remained
.
They
supported
themselves
now
as
they
could
on
the
meagre
rations
accorded
by
the
Government
.
Still
Isaura
attended
the
ambulance
to
which
she
was
attached
.
From
the
ladies
associated
with
her
she
could
readily
have
obtained
ample
supplies
:
but
they
had
no
conception
of
her
real
state
of
destitution
;
and
there
was
a
false
pride
generally
prevalent
among
the
respectable
classes
,
which
Isaura
shared
,
that
concealed
distress
lest
alms
should
be
proffered
.
The
destitution
of
the
household
had
been
carefully
concealed
from
the
parents
of
Gustave
Rameau
,
until
,
one
day
,
Madame
Rameau
,
entering
at
the
hour
at
which
she
generally
,
and
her
husband
sometimes
,
came
for
a
place
by
the
fireside
and
a
seat
at
the
board
,
found
on
the
one
only
ashes
,
on
the
other
a
ration
of
the
black
nauseous
compound
which
had
become
the
substitute
for
bread
.
Isaura
was
absent
on
her
duties
at
the
ambulance
hospital
,
—
purposely
absent
,
for
she
shrank
from
the
bitter
task
of
making
clear
to
the
friends
of
her
betrothed
the
impossibility
of
continuing
the
aid
to
their
support
which
their
son
had
neglected
to
contribute
;
and
still
more
from
the
comment
which
she
knew
they
would
make
on
his
conduct
,
in
absenting
himself
so
wholly
of
late
,
and
in
the
time
of
such
trial
and
pressure
,
both
from
them
and
from
herself
.
Truly
,
she
rejoiced
at
that
absence
so
far
as
it
affected
herself
.
Every
hour
of
the
day
she
silently
asked
her
conscience
whether
she
were
not
now
absolved
from
a
promise
won
from
her
only
by
an
assurance
that
she
had
power
to
influence
for
good
the
life
that
now
voluntarily
separated
itself
from
her
own
.
As
she
had
never
loved
Gustave
,
so
she
felt
no
resentment
at
the
indifference
his
conduct
manifested
.
On
the
contrary
,
she
hailed
it
as
a
sign
that
the
annulment
of
their
betrothal
would
be
as
welcome
to
him
as
to
herself
.
And
if
so
,
she
could
restore
to
him
the
sort
of
compassionate
friendship
she
had
learned
to
cherish
in
the
hour
of
his
illness
and
repentance
.
She
had
resolved
to
seize
the
first
opportunity
he
afforded
to
her
of
speaking
to
him
with
frank
and
truthful
plainness
.
But
,
meanwhile
,
her
gentle
nature
recoiled
from
the
confession
of
her
resolve
to
appeal
to
Gustave
himself
for
the
rupture
of
their
engagement
.
Thus
the
Venosta
alone
received
Madame
Rameau
;
and
while
that
lady
was
still
gazing
round
her
with
an
emotion
too
deep
for
immediate
utterance
,
her
husband
entered
with
an
expression
of
face
new
to
him
—
the
look
of
a
man
who
has
been
stung
to
anger
,
and
who
has
braced
his
mind
to
some
stern
determination
.
This
altered
countenance
of
the
good-tempered
bourgeois
was
not
,
however
,
noticed
by
the
two
women
.
The
Venosta
did
not
even
raise
her
eyes
to
it
,
as
with
humbled
accents
she
said
,
“
Pardon
,
dear
Monsieur
,
pardon
,
Madame
,
our
want
of
hospitality
;
it
is
not
our
hearts
that
fail
.
We
kept
our
state
from
you
as
long
as
we
could
.
Now
it
speaks
for
itself
;
‘la
fame
e
una
bretta
festin.’
”
“
Oh
,
Madame
!
and
oh
,
my
poor
Isaura
!
”
cried
Madame
Rameau
,
bursting
into
tears
.
“
So
we
have
been
all
this
time
a
burden
on
you
,
—
aided
to
bring
such
want
on
you
!
How
can
we
ever
be
forgiven
?
And
my
son
—
to
leave
us
thus
,
—
not
even
to
tell
us
where
to
find
him
!
”
“
Do
not
degrade
us
,
my
wife
,
”
said
M
.
Rameau
,
with
unexpected
dignity
,
“
by
a
word
to
imply
that
we
would
stoop
to
sue
for
support
to
our
ungrateful
child
.
No
,
we
will
not
starve
!
I
am
strong
enough
still
to
find
food
for
you
.
I
will
apply
for
restoration
to
the
National
Guard
.
They
have
augmented
the
pay
to
married
men
;
it
is
now
nearly
two
francs
and
a
half
a-day
to
a
pere
de
famille
,
and
on
that
pay
we
all
can
at
least
live
.
Courage
,
my
wife
!
I
will
go
at
once
for
employment
.
Many
men
older
than
I
am
are
at
watch
on
the
ramparts
,
and
will
march
to
the
battle
on
the
next
sortie
.
”
“
It
shall
not
be
so
,
”
exclaimed
Madame
Rameau
,
vehemently
,
and
winding
her
arm
round
her
husband’s
neck
.
“
I
loved
my
son
better
than
thee
once
—
more
shame
to
me
.
Now
,
I
would
rather
lose
twenty
such
sons
than
peril
thy
life
,
my
Jacques
!
Madame
,
”
she
continued
,
turning
to
the
Venosta
,
“
thou
wert
wiser
than
I
.
Thou
wert
ever
opposed
to
the
union
between
thy
young
friend
and
my
son
.
I
felt
sore
with
thee
for
it
—
a
mother
is
so
selfish
when
she
puts
herself
in
the
place
of
her
child
.
I
thought
that
only
through
marriage
with
one
so
pure
,
so
noble
,
so
holy
,
Gustave
could
be
saved
from
sin
and
evil
.
I
am
deceived
.
A
man
so
heartless
to
his
parents
,
so
neglectful
of
his
affianced
,
is
not
to
be
redeemed
.
I
brought
about
this
betrothal
:
tell
Isaura
that
I
release
her
from
it
.
I
have
watched
her
closely
since
she
was
entrapped
into
it
.
I
know
how
miserable
the
thought
of
it
has
made
her
,
though
,
in
her
sublime
devotion
to
her
plighted
word
,
she
sought
to
conceal
from
me
the
real
state
of
her
heart
.
If
the
betrothal
bring
such
sorrow
,
what
would
the
union
do
!
Tell
her
this
from
me
.
Come
,
Jacques
,
