love of her husband satisfied her. His love was all she asked
for, all else was indifferent to her. Thus of her mother, the impassioned
toiler, was born the passionate lover! All the fervency which the mother
had given to business, Micheline had given to love.

Moreover, Serge behaved irreproachably. One must do him that justice. Not
even an appearance accused him. He was faithful, unlikely as that may
seem in a man of his kind; he never left his wife. He had hardly ever
gone out without her; they were a couple of turtle-doves. They were
laughed at.

"The Princess has tied a string round Serge's foot," was said by some of
Serge's former woman friends!

It was something to be sure of her daughter's happiness. That happiness
was dearly, bought; but as the proverb says:

"Money troubles are not mortal!"

And, besides, it was evident that the Prince did not keep account of his
money; his hand was always open. And never did a great lord do more honor
to his fortune. Panine, in marrying Micheline, had found the mistress's
cash-box at his disposal.

This prodigious cash-box had seemed to him inexhaustible, and he had
drawn on it like a Prince in the Arabian Nights on the treasure of the
genii.

Perhaps it would suffice to let him see that he was spending the capital
as well as the income to make him alter his line of conduct. At all
events, the moment was not yet opportune, and, besides, the amount was
not yet large enough. Cry out about some hundred thousand francs! Madame
Desvarennes would be thought a miser and would be covered with shame. She
must wait.

And, shut up in her office in the Rue Saint-Dominique with Marechal, who
acted as her confidant, she worked with heart and soul full of passion
and anger, making money. It was fine to witness the duel between these
two beings: the one useful, the other useless; one sacrificing everything
to work, the other everything to pleasure.

Toward the end of October, the weather at Cernay became unsettled, and
Micheline complained of the cold. Country life so pleased Serge that he
turned a deaf ear to her complaints. But lost in that large house, the
autumn winds rustling through the trees, whose leaves were tinted with
yellow, Micheline became sad, and the Prince understood that it was time
to go back to Paris.

The town seemed deserted to Serge. Still, returning to his splendid
apartments was a great satisfaction and pleasure to him. Everything
appeared new. He review