the table to retire to
rest.

Little Jacques had heard nothing. Benumbed by his stillness, he had
fallen asleep, with his cheek on his picture-book; and his big head, so
heavy at times that it bent his neck, looked pale in the lamplight.
Poor little offspring of genius, which, when it begets at all, so often
begets idiocy or physical imperfection! When his mother put him to bed
Jacques did not even open his eyes.

It was only at this period that the idea of marrying Christine came
to Claude. Though yielding to the advice of Sandoz, who expressed
his surprise at the prolongation of an irregular situation which no
circumstances justified, he more particularly gave way to a feeling
of pity, to a desire to show himself kind to his mistress, and to win
forgiveness for his delinquencies. He had seen her so sad of late, so
uneasy with respect to the future, that he did not know how to revive
her spirits. He himself was growing soured, and relapsing into his
former fits of anger, treating her, at times, like a servant, to whom
one flings a week's notice. Being his lawful wife, she would, no doubt,
feel herself more in her rightful home, and would suffer less from his
rough behaviour. She herself, for that matter, had never again spoken
of marriage. She seemed to care nothing for earthly things, but entirely
reposed upon him; however, he understood well enough that it grieved
her that she was not able to visit at Sandoz's. Besides, they no longer
lived amid the freedom and solitude of the country; they were in Paris,
with its thousand and one petty spites, everything that is calculated
to wound a woman in an irregular position. In reality, he had nothing
against marriage save his old prejudices, those of an artist who takes
life as he lists. Since he was never to leave her, why not afford her
that pleasure? And, in fact, when he spoke to her about it, she gave a
loud cry and threw her arms round his neck, surprised at experiencing
such great emotion. During a whole week it made her feel thoroughly
happy. But her joy subsided long before the ceremony.

Moreover, Claude did not hurry over any of the formalities, and they had
to wait a long while for the necessary papers. He continued getting the
sketches for his picture together, and she, like himself, did not seem
in the least impatient. What was the good? It would assuredly make no
difference in their life. They had decided to be married merely at the
municipal offices, not