led
him into some act of folly?"

Then she explained how her affairs stood. The arrangement on the
occasion of her marriage was that the property of each party should be
separate.[I] The amount of her inheritance was three hundred thousand
francs. M. Dambreuse had guaranteed by the marriage contract that in the
event of her surviving him, she should have an income of fifteen
thousand francs a year, together with the ownership of the mansion. But
a short time afterwards he had made a will by which he gave her all he
possessed, and this she estimated, so far as it was possible to
ascertain just at present, at over three millions.

Frederick opened his eyes widely.

[I] A marriage may take place in France under the _regime de
communaute_, by which the husband has the enjoyment and the right of
disposing of the property both of himself and his wife; the _regime
dotal_, by which he can only dispose of the income; and the _regime de
separation de biens_, by which husband and wife enjoy and exercise
control over their respective estates separately.--TRANSLATOR.

"It was worth the trouble, wasn't it? However, I contributed to it! It
was my own property I was protecting; Cecile would have unjustly robbed
me of it."

"Why did she not come to see her father?"

As he asked her this question Madame Dambreuse eyed him attentively;
then, in a dry tone:

"I haven't the least idea! Want of heart, probably! Oh! I know what she
is! And for that reason she won't get a farthing from me!"

She had not been very troublesome, he pointed out; at any rate, since
her marriage.

"Ha! her marriage!" said Madame Dambreuse, with a sneer. And she grudged
having treated only too well this stupid creature, who was jealous,
self-interested, and hypocritical. "All the faults of her father!" She
disparaged him more and more. There was never a person with such
profound duplicity, and with such a merciless disposition into the
bargain, as hard as a stone--"a bad man, a bad man!"

Even the wisest people fall into errors. Madame Dambreuse had just made
a serious one through this overflow of hatred on her part. Frederick,
sitting opposite her in an easy chair, was reflecting deeply,
scandalised by the language she had used.

She arose and knelt down beside him.

"To be with you is the only real pleasure! You are the only one I love!"

While she gazed at him her heart softened, a nervous reaction brought
tears into her eyes, and she murmure