the widow of a
paladin might have bestowed upon her husband's armor. One slight detail
here will serve to bring the tender devotion of this woman before the
reader's mind. She had wrapped up a pen and sealed the package, on which
she wrote these words, "Last pen used by my dear husband." The cup from
which he drank his last draught was on the fireplace; caps and false
hair were tossed, at a later period, over the glass globes which covered
these precious relics. After Bridau's death not a trace of coquetry, not
even a woman's ordinary care of her person, was left in the young widow
of thirty-five. Parted from the only man she had ever known, esteemed,
and loved, from one who had never caused her the slightest unhappiness,
she was no longer conscious of her womanhood; all things were as nothing
to her; she no longer even thought of her dress. Nothing was ever more
simply done or more complete than this laying down of conjugal happiness
and personal charm. Some human beings obtain through love the power
of transferring their self--their I--to the being of another; and when
death takes that other, no life of their own is possible for them.

Agathe, who now lived only for her children, was infinitely sad at the
thought of the privations this financial ruin would bring upon them.
From the time of her removal to the rue Mazarin a shade of melancholy
came upon her face, which made it very touching. She hoped a little in
the Emperor; but the Emperor at that time could do no more than he was
already doing; he was giving three hundred francs a year to each child
from his privy purse, besides the scholarships.

As for the brilliant Descoings, she occupied an _appartement_ on the
second floor similar to that of her niece above her. She had made
Madame Bridau an assignment of three thousand francs out of her annuity.
Roguin, the notary, attended to this in Madame Bridau's interest; but it
would take seven years of such slow repayment to make good the loss.
The Descoings, thus reduced to an income of twelve hundred francs,
lived with her niece in a small way. These excellent but timid creatures
employed a woman-of-all-work for the morning hours only. Madame
Descoings, who liked to cook, prepared the dinner. In the evenings a few
old friends, persons employed at the ministry who owed their places to
Bridau, came for a game of cards with the two widows. Madame Descoings
still cherished her trey, which she declared was obstinate about