. At last she got into the hackney
coach to drive to her mother's house, her heart quite broken, crying so
much as to distress the maid, and covering little Wenceslas with kisses,
which betrayed her still unfailing love for his father.

The Baroness knew already from Lisbeth that the father-in-law was
largely to blame for the son-in-law's fault; nor was she surprised to
see her daughter, whose conduct she approved, and she consented to give
her shelter. Adeline, perceiving that her own gentleness and patience
had never checked Hector, for whom her respect was indeed fast
diminishing, thought her daughter very right to adopt another course.

In three weeks the poor mother had suffered two wounds of which the pain
was greater than any ill-fortune she had hitherto endured. The Baron
had placed Victorin and his wife in great difficulties; and then, by
Lisbeth's account, he was the cause of his son-in-law's misconduct, and
had corrupted Wenceslas. The dignity of the father of the family, so
long upheld by her really foolish self-sacrifice, was now overthrown.
Though they did not regret the money the young Hulots were full alike of
doubts and uneasiness as regarded the Baron. This sentiment, which was
evidence enough, distressed the Baroness; she foresaw a break-up of the
family tie.

Hortense was accommodated in the dining-room, arranged as a bedroom
with the help of the Marshal's money, and the anteroom became the
dining-room, as it is in many apartments.

When Wenceslas returned home and had read the two letters, he felt
a kind of gladness mingled with regret. Kept so constantly under his
wife's eye, so to speak, he had inwardly rebelled against this fresh
thraldom, _a la_ Lisbeth. Full fed with love for three years past, he
too had been reflecting during the last fortnight; and he found a family
heavy on his hands. He had just been congratulated by Stidmann on the
passion he had inspired in Valerie; for Stidmann, with an under-thought
that was not unnatural, saw that he might flatter the husband's vanity
in the hope of consoling the victim. And Wenceslas was glad to be able
to return to Madame Marneffe.

Still, he remembered the pure and unsullied happiness he had known,
the perfections of his wife, her judgment, her innocent and guileless
affection,--and he regretted her acutely. He thought of going at once to
his mother-in-law's to crave forgiveness; but, in fact, like Hulot and
Crevel, he went to Madame Marnef