, and with unrestrained bitterness, went
on:

"That gentleman has behaved toward me in such a manner as to shake my
confidence in him! After vowing that he would never separate you from me,
he brought you here, knowing that I could not leave Paris."

"You are unjust," retorted Micheline. "You know the doctors ordered me to
go to Nice."

"Pooh! You can make doctors order you anything you like!" resumed her
mother, excitedly, and shaking her head disdainfully. "Your husband said
to our good Doctor Rigaud: 'Don't you think that a season in the South
would do my wife good?' The doctor answered: 'If it does not do her any
good it certainly won't do her any harm.' Then your husband added, 'just
take a sheet of paper and write out a prescription. You understand? It is
for my mother-in-law, who will not be pleased at our going away.'"

And as Micheline seemed to doubt what she was saying, the latter added:

"The doctor told me when I went to see him about it. I never had much
faith in doctors, and now--"

Micheline felt she was on delicate ground, and wanted to change the
subject. She soothed her mother as in days gone by, saying:

"Come, mamma; will you never be able to get used to your part? Must you
always be jealous? You know all wives leave their mothers to follow their
husbands. It is the law of nature. You, in your day, remember, followed
your husband, and your mother must have wept."

"Did my mother love me as I love you?" asked Madame Desvarennes,
impetuously. "I was brought up differently. We had not time to love each
other so much. We had to work. The happiness of spoiling one's child is a
privilege of the rich. For you there was no down warm enough or silk soft
enough to line your cradle. You have been petted and worshipped for
twenty years. Yet, it only needed a man, whom you scarcely knew six
months ago, to make you forget everything."

"I have not forgotten anything," replied Micheline, moved by these
passionate expressions. "And in my heart you still hold the same place."

The mistress looked at the young wife, then, in a sad tone, said:

"It is no longer the first place."

This simple, selfish view made Micheline smile.

"It is just like you, you tyrant!" she exclaimed. "You must be first.
Come, be satisfied with equality! Remember that you were first in the
field, and that for twenty years I have loved you, while he has to make
up for lost time. Don't try to make a comparison between my love for