en who prey
upon them! Perhaps, who knows--I can show you the very woman who was the
cause of all the misery in your own family!"

And as Monsieur Loches rose from his chair, the doctor came to him and
took him by the hand. "Promise me, sir," he said, earnestly, "that you
will come back and let me teach you more about these matters. It is a
chance that I must not let go--the first time in my life that I ever got
hold of a real live deputy! Come and make a study of this subject, and
let us try to work out some sensible plan, and get seriously to work to
remedy these frightful evils!"

CHAPTER VI

George lived with his mother after Henriette had left his home. He was
wretchedly unhappy and lonely. He could find no interest in any of the
things which had pleased him before. He was ashamed to meet any of his
friends, because he imagined that everyone must have heard the dreadful
story--or because he was not equal to making up explanations for his
mournful state. He no longer cared much about his work. What was the
use of making a reputation or earning large fees when one had nothing to
spend them for?

All his thoughts were fixed upon the wife and child he had lost. He was
reminded of Henriette in a thousand ways, and each way brought him a
separate pang of grief. He had never realized how much he had come to
depend upon her in every little thing--until now, when her companionship
was withdrawn from him, and everything seemed to be a blank. He would
come home at night, and opposite to him at the dinner-table would be his
mother, silent and spectral. How different from the days when Henriette
was there, radiant and merry, eager to be told everything that had
happened to him through the day!

There was also his worry about little Gervaise. He might no longer hear
how she was doing, for he could not get up courage to ask his mother
the news. Thus poor George was paying for his sins. He could make no
complaints against the price, however high--only sometimes he
wondered whether he would be able to pay it. There were times of such
discouragement that he thought of different ways of killing himself.

A curious adventure befell him during this period. He was walking one
day in the park, when he saw approaching a girl whose face struck him as
familiar. At first he could not recollect where he had seen her. It was
only when she was nearly opposite him that he realized--it was the girl
who had been the cause of all his mis