e was the most adorned nurse in the Champs-Elysees, with
superb cloaks and the richest of caps, trimmed with long ribbons which
flared in the sunlight. Never did lady lead a life of more sumptuous
idleness. There were also the presents which she extracted for her
husband and her little girl at the village. Parcels were sent them by
express train every week. And on the morning when news came that her
own baby, carried back by La Couteau, had died from the effects of a bad
cold, she was presented with fifty francs as if in payment for the loss
of her child. Little Andree, meanwhile, grew ever stronger, and thus La
Catiche rose higher and higher, with the whole house bending low beneath
her tyrannical sway.

On the day when Mathieu called to sign the deed which was to insure
him the possession of the little pavilion of Chantebled with some fifty
acres around it, and the privilege of acquiring other parts of the
estate on certain conditions, he found Seguin on the point of starting
for Le Havre, where a friend, a wealthy Englishman, was waiting for him
with his yacht, in order that they might have a month's trip round the
coast of Spain.

"Yes," said Seguin feverishly, alluding to some recent heavy losses at
the gaming table, "I'm leaving Paris for a time--I have no luck here
just now. But I wish you plenty of courage and all success, my dear sir.
You know how much I am interested in the attempt you are about to make."

A little later that same day Mathieu was crossing the Champs-Elysees,
eager to join Marianne at Chantebled, moved as he was by the decisive
step he had taken, yet quivering also with faith and hope, when in a
deserted avenue he espied a cab waiting, and recognized Santerre inside
it. Then, as a veiled lady furtively sprang into the vehicle, he turned
round wondering: Was that not Valentine? And as the cab drove off he
felt convinced it was.

There came other meetings when he reached the main avenue; first Gaston
and Lucie, already tired of play, and dragging about their puny limbs
under the careless supervision of Celeste, who was busy laughing with a
grocer's man; while farther off La Catiche, superb and royal, decked out
like the idol of venal motherhood, was giving little Andree an outing,
with her long purple ribbons streaming victoriously in the sunshine.

XI

ON the day when the first blow with the pick was dealt, Marianne, with
Gervais in her arms, came and sat down close by, full of happy