feared for her child, and would gladly not have slept in order to
be sure that no one approached him during her sleep; and she kept his
cradle beside her bed. In the absence of the count she ventured to send
for the bonesetter, whose name she had caught and remembered. To her,
Beauvouloir was a being to whom she owed an untold debt of gratitude;
and she desired of all things to question him on certain points relating
to her son. If an attempt were made to poison him, how should she foil
it? In what way ought she to manage his frail constitution? Was it well
to nurse him long? If she died, would Beauvouloir undertake the care of
the poor child's health?

To the questions of the countess, Beauvouloir, deeply touched, replied
that he feared, as much as she did, an attempt to poison Etienne; but
there was, he assured her, no danger as long as she nursed the child;
and in future, when obliged to feed him, she must taste the food
herself.

"If Madame la comtesse," he said, "feels anything strange upon her
tongue, a prickly, bitter, strong salt taste, reject the food. Let the
child's clothes be washed under her own eye and let her keep the key of
the chest which contains them. Should anything happen to the child send
instantly to me."

These instructions sank deep into Jeanne's heart. She begged Beauvouloir
to regard her always as one who would do him any service in her power.
On that the poor man told her that she held his happiness in her hands.

Then he related briefly how the Comte d'Herouville had in his youth
loved a courtesan, known by the name of La Belle Romaine, who had
formerly belonged to the Cardinal of Lorraine. Abandoned by the
count before very long, she had died miserably, leaving a child named
Gertrude, who had been rescued by the Sisters of the Convent of Poor
Clares, the Mother Superior of which was Mademoiselle de Saint-Savin,
the countess's aunt. Having been called to treat Gertrude for an
illness, he, Beauvouloir, had fallen in love with her, and if Madame la
comtesse, he said, would undertake the affair, she should not only more
than repay him for what she thought he had done for her, but she would
make him grateful to her for life. The count might, sooner or later,
be brought to take an interest in so beautiful a daughter, and might
protect her indirectly by making him his physician.

The countess, compassionate to all true love, promised to do her best,
and pursued the affair so warmly that at t