he people
of the _grand monde_ came to see Jean. She could not see the things
around her, but they were very clearly pictured in her mind--the
beautiful rugs, so soft and silky to the touch, that hung from the
walls; the queer, spindly furniture, that did not seem made for use at
all, that she had been afraid to touch at first for fear it would
break, it looked so fragile; the dark, glossy floor, like a mirror,
that she had polished only that morning; the--her thoughts were
suddenly, disturbingly, flying off at a tangent.

That morning! It brought a quick twinge of pain to Marie-Louise's
heart. The salon had been--had been--oh, she did not know how to
describe it--only Madame Mi-mi had said it was often like that, that
Jean led the gay life, and why not, since he had the _sous_ to pay and
was rich? There had been broken glasses, and confusion, and callous
ruin of things that were priceless, and cards strewn over the
floor--and--and somehow she had not been able to keep her eyes from
being wet all the time she had been cleaning up the room. It--it made
her heart very heavy, and very sorrowful. And yet, too, in a way, she
could understand--because she understood Jean. Long, long ago she had
been afraid--afraid of his success for him, even while she had prayed
for it. If Jean had only a mother, only some one whose love would hold
him back. If he were married--if he had a wife--it would change all
this sort of life that he led now. Yes; if he were married! She could
think of that quite calmly, in a perfectly impersonal way. Why should
she not? Some day Jean would marry--marry some one out of this new
world in which she had no part, which to her was so very strange and
foreign and hard to understand; but which to Jean was so natural, and
which, henceforth, could be the only life he would know. Yes; she
could think of his marrying quite calmly. And why not? She had no
longer part in that--she had passed out of Jean's life long ago, that
day in Bernay-sur-Mer. Perhaps it would be Mademoiselle Bliss--Hector
had hinted at it and winked prodigiously. She found her hand clenching
very hard at her side. It seemed very, very strange, and it was very,
very curious that, while she could think quite calmly of Jean marrying
some one because it would be very good for Jean to marry, a pang came
and her heart rebelled when the "some one," instead of being vague and
general and indefinite, became a particular "some one" t