hat she would have to give her whole time to
it, and neglect the chevalier, who is growing old and can no longer read
anything without his daughter's eyes and head. The abbe was too fond
of improving his mind from the writings of the wise to have time for
anything else.

"'That is what comes of all this study of virtue!' I said to her; 'it
makes a man forget to be virtuous.'

"'You are quite right,' answered Edmee; 'but what is to be done?'

"I promised to think it over; and this is how I went to work. Instead of
taking my walks as usual in the direction of the woods, I paid a visit
every day to the small holdings. It cost me a great effort; I like to be
alone; and everywhere I had shunned my fellow-men for so many years that
I had lost touch with them. However, this was a duty and I did it. I
went to various houses, and by way of conversation, first of all over
hedges, and then inside the houses themselves, I made inquiries as to
those points which I wanted to learn. At first they gave me a welcome
such as they would give to a lost dog in time of drought; and with a
vexation I could scarce conceal I noticed the hatred and distrust on all
their faces. Though I had not cared to live among other men, I still
had an affection for them; I knew that they were unfortunate rather than
vicious; I had spent all my time in lamenting their woes and railing
against those that caused them; and when for the first time I saw a
possibility of doing something for some of them, these very men shut
their doors the very moment they caught sight of me in the distance, and
their children (those pretty children that I love so much!) would hide
themselves in ditches so as to escape the fever which, it was said, I
could give with a glance. However, as Edmee's friendship for me was
well known, they did not dare to repulse me openly, and I succeeded in
getting the information we wanted. Whenever I told her of any distress
she at once supplied a remedy. One house was full of cracks; and while
the daughter was wearing an apron of cotton-cloth at four francs an ell,
the rain was falling on the grandmother's bed and the little children's
cradles. The roof and walls were repaired; we supplied the materials and
paid the workmen; but no more money for gaudy aprons. In another case,
an old woman had been reduced to beggary because she had listened too
well to her heart, and given all she had to her children, who had turned
her out of doors, or made her