lf that if
he could not conquer the wife, he COULD conquer the mother and he
threatened to turn his brutality to you, Wilkie. To save you--for I knew
what he was capable of--I pretended to waver, and I asked twenty-four
hours for reflection. He granted them. But the next day I left him
forever, flying from him with you in my arms."

M. Wilkie turned white, and a cold chill crept up his spine. However,
it was not pity for his mother's sufferings, nor shame for his father's
infamy that agitated him, but ever the same terrible fear of incurring
the enmity of this dangerous coveter of the Chalusse millions. Would
he be able to hold his father at bay even with the assistance of M. de
Coralth and the Marquis de Valorsay? A thousand questions rose to his
lips, for he was eager to hear the particulars of his mother's flight;
but Madame d'Argeles hurried on with her story as if she feared her
strength would fail before she reached the end.

"I was alone with you, Wilkie, in this great city," she resumed. "A
hundred francs was all that I possessed. My first care was to find a
place of shelter. For sixteen francs a month, which I was compelled to
pay in advance, I found a small, meagrely furnished room in the Faubourg
Saint Martin. It was badly ventilated and miserably lighted, but still
it was shelter. I said to myself that we could live there together by my
work, Wilkie. I was a proficient in feminine accomplishments; I was an
excellent musician, and I thought I should have no difficulty in earning
the four or five francs a day which I considered absolutely necessary
for our subsistence. Alas! I discovered only too soon what chimerical
hopes I had cherished. To give music lessons it is necessary to obtain
pupils. Where should I find them? I had no one to recommend me, and I
scarcely dared show myself in the streets, so great was my fear that
your father would discover our hiding-place. At last, I decided to try
to find some employment in needlework, and timidly offered my services
at several shops. Alas! it is only those who have gone about from door
to door soliciting work who know the misery of the thing. To ask alms
would be scarcely more humiliating. People sneered at me, and replied
(when they deigned to reply at all) that 'there was no business doing,
and they had all the help they wanted.' My evident inexperience was
probably the cause of many of these refusals, as well as my attire, for
I still had the appearance of bei