pon her nevertheless. It was therefore not
surprising that M. de Nailles's face showed traces of the habitual
fatigue that was fast aging him; his tall, thin form had acquired a
slight stoop; though only fifty he was evidently in his declining years.
He had once been a man of pleasure, it was said, before he entered
politics. He had married his first wife late in life. She was a prudent
woman who feared to expose him to temptation, and had kept him as far as
possible away from Paris.

In the country, having nothing to do, he became interested in
agriculture, and in looking after his estate at Grandchaux. He had been
made a member of the Conseil General, when unfortunately death too early
deprived him of the wise and gentle counsellor for whom he felt, possibly
not a very lively love, but certainly a high esteem and affection. After
he be came a widower he met in the Pyrenees, where, as he was whiling
away the time of seclusion proper after his loss, a young lady who
appeared to him exactly the person he needed to bring up his little
daughter--because she was extremely attractive to himself. Of course M.
de Nailles found plenty of other reasons for his choice, which he gave to
the world and to himself to justify his second marriage--but this was the
true reason and the only one. His friends, however, all of whom had urged
on him the desirability of taking another wife, in consideration of the
age of Jacqueline, raised many objections as soon as he announced his
intention of espousing Mademoiselle Clotilde Hecker, eldest daughter of a
man who had been, at one time, a prefect under the Empire, but who had
been turned out of office by the Republican Government. He had a large
family and many debts; but M. de Nailles had some answer always ready for
the objections of his family and friends. He was convinced that
Mademoiselle Hecker, having no fortune, would be less exacting than other
women and more disposed to lead a quiet life.

She had been almost a mother to her own young brothers and sisters, which
was a pledge for motherliness toward Jacqueline, etc., etc. Nevertheless,
had she not had eyes as blue as those of the beauties painted by Greuze,
plenty of audacious wit, and a delicate complexion, due to her Alsatian
origin--had she not possessed a slender waist and a lovely figure, he
might have asked himself why a young lady who, in winter, studied
painting with the commendable intention of making her own living by art,