undly dejected at the prospect of
banishment to a foreign country, and placing no trust in her father's
reform to steady habits, evinced a tenderness for me hitherto new; she
wept bitterly; she allowed me to believe that her tears flowed at the
thought of parting with me, and even besought me to accompany them to
Cheltenham, if only for a few days. You may suppose how delightedly I
complied with the request. Duval had been about a week at the watering
place, and was discharging the duties he had undertaken with such
unwonted steadiness and regularity that I began sorrowfully to feel I
had no longer an excuse for not returning to my studies at Paris, when
the poor teacher was seized with a fit of paralysis. He lost the power
of movement, and his mind was affected. The medical attendant called
in said that he might linger thus for some time, but that, even if he
recovered his intellect, which was more than doubtful, he would never be
able to resume his profession. I could not leave Louise in circumstances
so distressing,--I remained. The little money Duval had brought from
Paris was now exhausted; and when the day on which he had been in the
habit of receiving his quarter's pension came round, Louise was unable
even to conjecture how it was to be applied for. It seems he had always
gone for it in person; but to whom he went was a secret which he had
never divulged, and at this critical juncture his mind was too enfeebled
even to comprehend us when we inquired. I had already drawn from the
small capital on the interest of which I had maintained myself; I now
drew out most of the remainder. But this was a resource that could
not last long. Nor could I, without seriously compromising Louise's
character, be constantly in the house with a girl so young, and whose
sole legitimate protector was thus afflicted. There seemed but one
alternative to that of abandoning her altogether,--namely, to make her
my wife, to conclude the studies necessary to obtain my diploma, and
purchase some partnership in a small country practice with the scanty
surplus that might be left of my capital. I placed this option before
Louise timidly, for I could not bear the thought of forcing her
inclinations. She seemed much moved by what she called my generosity:
she consented; we were married. I was, as you may conceive, wholly
ignorant of French law. We were married according to the English
ceremony and the Protestant ritual. Shortly after our marriage we