s good, I fear nothing for madame. The milk fever will come,
of course; but you need not be alarmed; that is nothing."

At this point the wily bonesetter paused, and pressed the hand of the
countess to make her attentive to his words.

"If you wish to avoid all anxiety about your son, madame," he continued,
"never leave him; suckle him yourself, and beware of the drugs of
apothecaries. The mother's breast is the remedy for all the ills of
infancy. I have seen many births of seven months' children, but I never
saw any so little painful as this. But that is not surprising; the child
is so small. You could put him in a wooden shoe! I am certain he doesn't
weight more than sixteen ounces. Milk, milk, milk. Keep him always on
your breast and you will save him."

These last words were accompanied by a significant pressure of the
fingers. Disregarding the yellow flames flashing from the eyeholes
of the count's mask, Beauvouloir uttered these words with the serious
imperturbability of a man who intends to earn his money.

"Ho! ho! bonesetter, you are leaving your old felt hat behind you," said
Bertrand, as the two left the bedroom together.

The reasons of the sudden mercy which the count had shown to his son
were to be found in a notary's office. At the moment when Beauvouloir
arrested his murderous hand avarice and the Legal Custom of Normandy
rose up before him. Those mighty powers stiffened his fingers and
silenced the passion of his hatred. One cried out to him, "The property
of your wife cannot belong to the house of Herouville except through
a male child." The other pointed to a dying countess and her fortune
claimed by the collateral heirs of the Saint-Savins. Both advised him
to leave to nature the extinction of that hated child, and to wait the
birth of a second son who might be healthy and vigorous before getting
rid of his wife and first-born. He saw neither wife nor child; he saw
the estates only, and hatred was softened by ambition. The mother, who
knew his nature, was even more surprised than the bonesetter, and she
still retained her instinctive fears, showing them at times openly, for
the courage of mothers seemed suddenly to have doubled her strength.

CHAPTER III. THE MOTHER'S LOVE

For several days the count remained assiduously beside his wife, showing
her attentions to which self-interest imparted a sort of tenderness.
The countess saw, however, that she alone was the object of these
attenti