maining rigid and stubborn amid the
continual crumbling of her life and hopes.

During those twelve years Beauchene had pursued a downward course, the
descent of which was fatal. He was right at the bottom now, in the
last state of degradation. After beginning simply as a roving husband,
festively inclined, he had ended by living entirely away from his home,
principally in the company of two women, aunt and niece. He was now but
a pitiful human rag, fast approaching some shameful death. And large as
his fortune had been, it had not sufficed him; as he grew older he
had squandered money yet more and more lavishly, immense sums being
swallowed up in disreputable adventures, the scandal of which it had
been necessary to stifle. Thus he at last found himself poor, receiving
but a small portion of the ever-increasing profits of the works, which
were in full prosperity.

This was the disaster which brought so much suffering to Constance in
her incurable pride. Beauchene, since the death of his son, had quite
abandoned himself to a dissolute life, thinking of nothing but his
pleasures, and taking no further interest in his establishment. What was
the use of defending it, since there was no longer an heir to whom it
might be transmitted, enlarged and enriched? And thus he had surrendered
it, bit by bit, to Denis, his partner, whom, by degrees, he allowed to
become the sole master. On arriving at the works, Denis had possessed
but one of the six shares which represented the totality of the property
according to the agreement. And Beauchene had even reserved to himself
the right of repurchasing that share within a certain period. But far
from being in a position to do so before the appointed date was passed,
he had been obliged to cede yet another share to the young man, in order
to free himself of debts which he could not confess.

From that time forward it became a habit with Beauchene to cede Denis a
fresh share every two years. A third followed the second, then came the
turn of the fourth and the fifth, in such wise, indeed, that after a
final arrangement, he had not even kept a whole share for himself; but
simply some portion of the sixth. And even that was really fictitious,
for Denis had only acknowledged it in order to have a pretext for
providing him with a certain income, which, by the way, he subdivided,
handing half of it to Constance every month.

She, therefore, was ignorant of nothing. She knew that, as a matter