Volume V Part 29 (1/2)
It was iht she could hear the old dog et used to this new house which he found so different fro would quiet hie of his infirmity made him keep still while everyone else ake and downstairs, and at night he wandered restlessly about until daybreak, as if he only dared to htless for the ti he was found dead
Winter wore on, and Jeanne gave way er a keen, heartrending grief that she felt, but a dull, gloo to rouse her from it, no one came to see her, and the road which passed before her door was al passed by driven by a red-faced man whose blouse, blown out by the wind, looked like a blue balloon, and sometimes a cart crawled past, or a peasant and his wife could be seen coer as they approached the house and then diain when they had passed it, till they looked like two insects at the end of the long white line which stretched as far as the eye could reach, rising and falling with the undulation of the earth When the grass again sprang up a little girl passed the gate everythe side of the road, and in the evening she returned, taking, as in the , one step every ten ht Jeanne dreaht she was there with her father and ain she accootten duties and supported Madame Adelade as she walked in her avenue; and each time she awoke she burst into tears
Paul was continually in her thoughts and she wondered what he was doing, if he ell and if he ever thought of her She revolved all these painful thoughts in herroads between the far else was the fierce jealousy of the woman who had deprived her of her son It was this hatred alone which restrained her fro to see hi her at the door and asking, ”What is your business here, madame?” and her self-respect would not perhty pride of a chaste and spotless woman, who had never stooped to listen to teainst the base and cowardly actions to which sensual love will drive achains
The whole of huht of the obscene secrets of the senses, of the caresses which debase as they are given and received, and of all the mysteries which surround the attraction of the sexes
Another spring and suain with its rainy days, its dull, gray skies, its heavy clouds, Jeanne felt so weary of the life she was leading that she deterain possession of her Poulet Surely the young man's passion , pitiful letter:
”My Dear Child--I a to entreat you to return to ed and ill, the whole year with only a servant I a now in a little house by the roadside and it is verywould seem different You are all I have in the world, and I have not seen you for seven years You will never kno unhappy I have been and how ht was centered in you You were my life, my soul, my only hope, my only love, and you are away fro Poulet, coain; cos to see you
JEANNE”
A few days later ca reply:
”My Dear Mother--I should only be too glad to come and see you, but I have not a penny; sendof co to speak to you about a plan which, if carried out, would permit me to do as you desire
”I shall never be able to repay the disinterested affection of the woman who has shared all nition of her faithful love and devotion Her behavior is all you could desire; she is well-educated and well-read and you cannot iine what a comfort she has been to me I should be a brute if I did not make her some recompense, and I ask your perether in your new house, and you would forgive ive your consent at once, if you knew her; I assure you she is very lady-like and quiet, and I know you would like her As for me, I could not live without her
”I shall await your reply with every impatience, dear mother We both send you much love--Your son,
”Vicomte Paul de Lamare”
Jeanne was thunderstruck As she sat with the letter on her knees, she could see so plainly through the designs of this woman who had not once let Paul return to his friends, but had always kept him at her side while she patiently waited until hisin the irresistible desire of having her son with her again; and it ith bitter pain that she thought of how Paul obstinately persisted in preferring this creature to herself ”He does not love ain
”He wants to marry her now,” she said, when Rosalie came in
The servant started
”Oh!that hussy here”
All the pride in Jeanne's nature rose in revolt at the thought, and though she was bowed doith grief, she replied decidedly:
”No, Rosalie, never But since he won't coo to hireater influence over hi hi to Paris, and would see hi with that wretch Then while she awaited his reply, she began to make all her preparations for the journey, and Rosalie commenced to pack her mistress's linen and clothes in an old trunk
”You haven't a single thing to put on,” exclai up an old, badly-o with such clothes; you'd be a disgrace to everyone, and the Paris ladies would think you were a servant”
Jeanne let her have her oay, and they both went to Goderville and chose soreen, checked stuff, which they left with the dressmaker to be made up Then they went to see Me Roussel the lawyer, ent to Paris for a fortnight every year, to obtain a few directions, for it enty-eight years since Jeanne had been to the capital He gave the the roads and the way to avoid being robbed, saying that the safest plan was to carry only just as much money as was necessary in the pockets and to sew the rest in the lining of the dress; then he talked for a long ties were o, and he recommended Jeanne to stay at the Hotel de Normandie, which was near the railway station He always stayed there himself, and she could say he had sent her There had been a railway between Paris and Havre for the last six years, but Jeanne had never seen one of these stea, and which were revolutionizing the whole country
The day passed on, but still there caht, Jeanne had gone along the road to meet the postman, and had asked, in a voice which she could not keep steady:
”You have nothing for me to-day, Pere Malandain?” And the ansas always the sa yet, _ma bonne dame_”
Fully persuaded that it was that wo, Jeanne deterer, but to start at once She wanted to take Rosalie with her, but thethe expense of the journey, and she only allowed her mistress to take three hundred francs with her