by
degrees renewing its mechanical life, and had just taken three steps
on the table, with a creaking of wheels and springs which showed that
there was still something faulty in its works. Then it had fallen on
its back, and but for the worthy man would have rebounded onto the
ground. He followed all its movements with outstretched hands, ready
to support it, and full of paternal anxiety. The moment he perceived
Helene turn, he smiled confidently towards her, as if to give her an
assurance that the doll would recover its walking powers. And then he
once more dived with scissors and bodkin into the toy. Jeanne still
slept on.

Thereupon Helene, her nerves relaxing under the influence of the
universal quiet, whispered a name in the priest's ear. He never
stirred; in the darkness his face could not be seen. A silence ensued,
and he responded:

"I knew it, but I wanted to hear it from your own lips. My daughter,
yours must be terrible suffering."

He gave utterance to no truisms on the subject of duty. Helene,
overcome, saddened to the heart by this unemotional pity, gazed once
more on the lights which spangled the gloomy veil enshrouding Paris.
They were flashing everywhere in myriads, like the sparks that dart
over the blackened refuse of burnt paper. At first these twinkling
dots had started from the Trocadero towards the heart of the city.
Soon another coruscation had appeared on the left in the direction of
Montmartre; then another had burst into view on the right behind the
Invalides, and still another, more distant near the Pantheon. From all
these centres flights of flames were simultaneously descending.

"You remember our conversation," slowly resumed the Abbe. "My opinion
has not changed. My daughter, you must marry."

"I!" she exclaimed, overwhelmed with amazement. "But I have just
confessed to you--Oh, you know well I cannot--"

"You must marry," he repeated with greater decision. "You will wed
an honest man."

Within the folds of his old cassock he seemed to have grown more
commanding. His large comical-looking head, which, with eyes
half-closed, was usually inclined towards one shoulder, was now
raised erect, and his eyes beamed with such intensity that she saw
them sparkling in the darkness.

"You will marry an honest man, who will be a father to Jeanne, and
will lead you back to the path of goodness."

"But I do not love him. Gracious Heaven! I do not love him!"

"You will love him, my daughte