ad to tell them all the particulars about the accident, which caused
him to shed tears, to repel all the proffered attentions which they
sought to thrust upon him merely because he was wealthy, and to decline
even the breakfast they wanted him to partake of, thus wounding their
sensibilities.

Then, having wiped the dust off his hat, brushed his coat and removed
the mud stains from his boots, he set forth in search of the Rue de
l'Eperlan, without venturing to make inquiries from anyone, for fear of
being recognized and arousing suspicions.

At length, being unable to find the place, he saw a priest passing by,
and, trusting to the professional discretion which churchmen possess, he
questioned the ecclesiastic.

He had only a hundred steps farther to go; it was exactly the second
street to the right.

Then he hesitated. Up to that moment, he had obeyed, like a mere animal,
the expressed wish of the deceased. Now he felt quite agitated,
confused, humiliated, at the idea of finding himself--the son--in the
presence of this woman who had been his father's mistress. All the
morality which lies buried in our breasts, heaped up at the bottom of
our sensuous emotions by centuries of hereditary instruction, all that
he had been taught since he had learned his catechism about creatures of
evil life, to instinctive contempt which every man entertains towards
them, even though he may marry one of them, all the narrow honesty of
the peasant in his character, was stirred up within him, and held him
back, making him grow red with shame.

But he said to himself:

"I promised the father, I must not break my promise."

Then he gave a push to the door of the house bearing the number 18,
which stood ajar, discovered a gloomy-looking staircase, ascended three
flights, perceived a door, then a second door, came upon the string of a
bell, and pulled it. The ringing, which resounded in the apartment
before which he stood, sent a shiver through his frame. The door was
opened, and he found himself facing a young lady very well dressed, a
brunette with a fresh complexion who gazed at him with eyes of
astonishment.

He did not know what to say to her, and she who suspected nothing, and
who was waiting for the other, did not invite him to come in. They stood
looking thus at one another for nearly half-a-minute, at the end of
which she said in a questioning tone:

"You have something to tell me Monsieur?" He falteringly replied:

"I am