shook with alarm and
was drowned in the great uproar of the factory. The sounds of the work in
progress had a sinister meaning to the unhappy cashier at that moment. It
seemed to him as if all the whirring machinery, the great chimney pouring
forth its clouds of smoke, the noise of the workmen at their different
tasks--as if all this tumult and bustle and fatigue were for the benefit
of a mysterious little being, dressed in velvet and adorned with jewels.

Risler laughed at him and refused to believe him. He had long been
acquainted with his compatriot's mania for detecting in everything the
pernicious influence of woman. And yet Planus's words sometimes recurred
to his thoughts, especially in the evening when Sidonie, after all the
commotion attendant upon the completion of her toilette, went away to the
theatre with Madame Dobson, leaving the apartment empty as soon as her
long train had swept across the threshold. Candles burning in front of
the mirrors, divers little toilette articles scattered about and thrown
aside, told of extravagant caprices and a reckless expenditure of money.
Risler thought nothing of all that; but, when he heard Georges's carriage
rolling through the courtyard, he had a feeling of discomfort at the
thought of Madame Fromont passing her evenings entirely alone. Poor
woman! Suppose what Planus said were true!

Suppose Georges really had a second establishment! Oh, it would be
frightful!

Thereupon, instead of beginning to work, he would go softly downstairs
and ask if Madame were visible, deeming it his duty to keep her company.

The little girl was always in bed, but the little cap, the blue shoes,
were still lying in front of the fire. Claire was either reading or
working, with her silent mother beside her, always rubbing or dusting
with feverish energy, exhausting herself by blowing on the case of her
watch, and nervously taking the same thing up and putting it down again
ten times in succession, with the obstinate persistence of mania. Nor was
honest Risler a very entertaining companion; but that did not prevent the
young woman from welcoming him kindly. She knew all that was said about
Sidonie in the factory; and although she did not believe half of it, the
sight of the poor man, whom his wife left alone so often, moved her heart
to pity. Mutual compassion formed the basis of that placid friendship,
and nothing could be more touching than these two deserted ones, one
pitying the other