dured? Have you ever
treated one of your maids as you have treated me, your own flesh and
blood? And I have had no wages; on the contrary, I was expected to
be grateful since I lived by your tolerance. Ah! you have made me pay
dearly for the crime of being poor. How you have insulted me--humiliated
me--trampled me under foot!"

She paused.

The bitter rancor which had been accumulating for years fairly choked
her; but after a moment she resumed, in a tone of intense irony:

"You ask me what would I do in Paris? I, too, would enjoy myself. What
will you do, yourself? You will go to Court, to balls, and to the play,
will you not? Very well, I will accompany you. I will attend these
fetes. I will have handsome toilets, I--poor Aunt Medea--who have never
seen myself in anything but shabby black woollen dresses. Have you ever
thought of giving me the pleasure of possessing a handsome dress? Yes,
twice a year, perhaps, you have given me a black silk, recommending me
to take good care of it. But it was not for my sake that you went to
this expense. It was for your own sake; and in order that your poor
relation should do honor to your generosity. You dressed me in it, as
you sew gold lace upon the clothing of your lackeys, through vanity.
And I endured all this; I made myself insignificant and humble; buffeted
upon one cheek, I offered the other. I must live--I must have food. And
you, Blanche, how often, to make me subservient to your will, have
you said to me: 'You will do thus-and-so, if you desire to remain at
Courtornieu?' And I obeyed--I was forced to obey, since I knew not where
to go. Ah! you have abused me in every way; but now my turn has come!"

Blanche was so amazed that she could not articulate a syllable. At last,
in a scarcely audible voice, she faltered:

"I do not understand you, aunt; I do not understand you."

The poor dependent shrugged her shoulders, as her niece had done a few
moments before.

"In that case," said she, slowly, "I may as well tell you that since you
have, against my will, made me your accomplice, we must share everything
in common. I share the danger; I will share the pleasure. What if all
should be discovered? Do you ever think of that? Yes; and that is why
you are seeking diversion. Very well! I also desire diversion. I shall
go to Paris with you."

By a terrible effort Blanche had succeeded in regaining her
self-possession, in some measure at least.

"And if I should say no?"