empty home, whence father, mother, brother and sister
fled, there remained but the gentle and adorable Andree, exposed to all
the blasts of insanity which even now swept through the household,
and so distressed by loneliness, that her uncle, Du Hordel, full of
compassionate affection, conceived the idea of giving her a husband in
the person of young Ambroise, the future conqueror.

This plan was helped on by the renewed presence of Celeste the maid.
Eight years had elapsed since Valentine had been obliged to dismiss this
woman for immorality; and during those eight years Celeste, weary of
service, had tried a number of equivocal callings of which she did not
speak. She had ended by turning up at Rougemont, her native place, in
bad health and such a state of wretchedness, that for the sake of a
living she went out as a charwoman there. Then she gradually recovered
her health, and accumulated a little stock of clothes, thanks to the
protection of the village priest, whom she won over by an affectation
of extreme piety. It was at Rougemont, no doubt, that she planned her
return to the Seguins, of whose vicissitudes she was informed by La
Couteau, the latter having kept up her intercourse with Madame Menoux,
the little haberdasher of the neighborhood.

Valentine, shortly after her rupture with Santerre, one day of furious
despair, when she had again dismissed all her servants, was surprised by
the arrival of Celeste, who showed herself so repentant, so devoted, and
so serious-minded, that her former mistress felt touched. She made her
weep on reminding her of her faults, and asking her to swear before God
that she would never repeat them; for Celeste now went to confession and
partook of the holy communion, and carried with her a certificate from
the Cure of Rougemont vouching for her deep piety and high morality.
This certificate acted decisively on Valentine, who, unwilling to remain
at home, and weary of the troubles of housekeeping, understood what
precious help she might derive from this woman. On her side Celeste
certainly relied upon power being surrendered to her. Two months later,
by favoring Lucie's excessive partiality to religious practices, she had
helped her into a convent. Gaston showed himself only when he secured a
few days' leave. And so Andree alone remained at home, impeding by her
presence the great general pillage that Celeste dreamt of. The maid
therefore became a most active worker on behalf of her y