The Parisians, Book 12.

y 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 sie

conception of her real state of destitution; and there was a false pride generally prevalent among

, entering at the hour at which she generally, and her husband sometimes, came for a place by the fireside and a seat at the bo

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 o

een 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 wi

have been all this time a burden on you,-aided to bring such want on yon! How can we

gh 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, a

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

M. Gustave may be able satisfactorily to explain his seeming indifference and neglect. His health is always very delicate; perhaps he may be again dangerously ill. He serves in the National Guard; perhaps-" she paused, but the mother conjectured the word left unsaid, and, clasping her h

r tenderly, and kneel

ive and well. For my part, I know not if I would not rather he had died in his in

cealed it from m

ts, I was told that Gustave had joined himself to the most violent of the Red Republicans, and had uttered at the Club de la Vengeance sentiments, of which I will only say that I, his father an

o women, with a si

d told us his heart was bent. He appeared sincerely moved by what I said; implored me to keep silence towards his mother and his betrothed; and promised, on that condition, to relinquish at once what he called 'his career as an orator,' and appear no more at such execrable clubs. On this underst

o far," murmure

dging, and did not confide to us his new address, giving as a reason to us that h

s wife, but the ear of the Venosta was fine enough to catch the sou

nluckily, amongst those of Gustave was one with a violent-tempered girl who persecuted him when he left her, and he naturally wished to avoid all chance of a silly scandal, if only out of respect to the dignity of his fiancee. But I found that was not the true motive,

e attached to them. The Abbe himself is denounced by name as one of those meddling priests who are to be con

me Rameau, rising, very

u know thi

mous article,-this, which I now hold in my hand. He owned the authorship with pride; talked wildly of the great man he was-of the great things he was to do; said that, in hitherto concealing his true name, he had done all he could to defer to the bigoted prejudices of his parents and his fiancee; and that if genius, like fire, would find its way out, he could not help it; that a time was rapidly coming when his opinions would be uppermost; that since October the Communists were gaining ascendancy, and only waited the end of the siege to put down the present Government, and with it all

ta, there! Take that

d report to her

t of men, had, in talking, worke

n to the Venosta not to say more; and without other salutatio