paid her five hundred pounds.

Little Raoul was given over to his adopted parent a few hours after his
birth.

The good woman thought him the child of an English lady, and there
seemed no probability that he would ever discover the secret of his
birth.

Restored to consciousness, Valentine asked for her child. She yearned
to clasp it to her bosom; she implored to be allowed to hold her babe in
her arms for only one minute.

But the cruel countess was pitiless.

"Your child!" she cried, "you must be dreaming; you have no child. You
have had brain fever, but no child."

And as Valentine persisted in saying that she knew the child was alive,
and that she must see it, the countess was forced to change her tactics.

"Your child is alive, and shall want for nothing," she said sharply;
"let that suffice; and be thankful that I have so well concealed your
disgrace. You must forget what has happened, as you would forget a
painful dream. The past must be ignored--wiped out forever. You know me
well enough to understand that I will be obeyed."

The moment had come when Valentine should have asserted her maternal
rights, and resisted the countess's tyranny.

She had the idea, but not the courage to do so.

If, on one side, she saw the dangers of an almost culpable
resignation--for she, too, was a mother!--on the other she felt crushed
by the consciousness of her guilt.

She sadly yielded; surrendered herself into the hands of a mother whose
conduct she refrained from questioning, to escape the painful necessity
of condemning it.

But she secretly pined, and inwardly rebelled against her sad
disappointment; and thus her recovery was delayed for several months.

Toward the end of July, the countess took her back to La Verberie.
This time the mischief-makers and gossips were skilfully deceived. The
countess went everywhere, and instituted secret inquiries, but heard no
suspicions of the object of her long trip to England. Everyone believed
in the visit to the rich uncle.

Only one man, Dr. Raget, knew the truth; and, although Mme. de la
Verberie hated him from the bottom of her heart, she did him the justice
to feel sure that she had nothing to fear from his indiscretion.

Her first visit was paid to him.

When she entered the room, she abruptly threw on the table the official
papers which she had procured especially for him.

"These will prove to you, monsieur, that the child is living, and well
cared for at a c