t given back to him on some pretext; then,
anxious to bury out of sight the story of this theft, he stated that he
had lost it. The workwoman ingenuously repeated this falsehood to
Mademoiselle Vatnaz, and the latter, in order to satisfy her mind about
the matter, came with a show of indifference to talk to the shopman on
the subject. He contented himself with the answer: "I have burned
it!"--that was all. A little while afterwards she quitted the house,
without believing that the book had been really destroyed, and filled
with the idea that Dussardier had preserved it.

On hearing that he had been wounded, she rushed to his abode, with the
object of getting it back. Then, having discovered nothing, in spite of
the closest searches, she was seized with respect, and presently with
love, for this youth, so loyal, so gentle, so heroic and so strong! At
her age such good fortune in an affair of the heart was a thing that one
would not expect. She threw herself into it with the appetite of an
ogress; and she had given up literature, Socialism, "the consoling
doctrines and the generous Utopias," the course of lectures which she
had projected on the "Desubalternization of Woman"--everything, even
Delmar himself; finally she offered to unite herself to Dussardier in
marriage.

Although she was his mistress, he was not at all in love with her.
Besides, he had not forgotten her theft. Then she was too wealthy for
him. He refused her offer. Thereupon, with tears in her eyes, she told
him about what she had dreamed--it was to have for both of them a
confectioner's shop. She possessed the capital that was required
beforehand for the purpose, and next week this would be increased to the
extent of four thousand francs. By way of explanation, she referred to
the proceedings she had taken against the Marechale.

Dussardier was annoyed at this on account of his friend. He recalled to
mind the cigar-holder that had been presented to him at the guard-house,
the evenings spent in the Quai Napoleon, the many pleasant chats, the
books lent to him, the thousand acts of kindness which Frederick had
done in his behalf. He begged of the Vatnaz to abandon the proceedings.

She rallied him on his good nature, while exhibiting an antipathy
against Rosanette which he could not understand. She longed only for
wealth, in fact, in order to crush her, by-and-by, with her four-wheeled
carriage.

Dussardier was terrified by these black abysses of hate