supposed that the crime was committed, if at all, to
obtain funds for this business venture.

In the midst of such excitement it was impossible for Veronique's
friends to refrain from discussing in her presence the progress of the
case and the reticence of the criminal. Her health was extremely feeble;
but the doctor having advised her going out into the fresh air, she
had on one occasion taken her mother's arm and walked as far as Madame
Sauviat's house in the country, where she rested. On her return she
endeavored to keep about until her husband came to his dinner, which she
always served him herself. On this occasion Graslin, being detained in
the court-room, did not come in till eight o'clock. She went into the
dining-room as usual, and was present at a discussion which took place
among a number of her friends who had assembled there.

"If my poor father were still living," she remarked to them, "we should
know more about the matter; possibly this man might never have become a
criminal. I think you have all taken a singular idea about the matter.
You insist that love is at the bottom of the crime, and I agree with you
there; but why do you think this unknown person is a married woman? He
may have loved some young girl whose father and mother would not let her
marry him."

"A young girl could, sooner or later, have married him legitimately,"
replied Monsieur de Grandville. "Tascheron has no lack of patience; he
had time to make sufficient means to support her while awaiting the
time when all girls are at liberty to marry against the wishes of their
parents; he need not have committed a crime to obtain her."

"I did not know that a girl could marry in that way," said Madame
Graslin; "but how is it that in a town like this, where all things are
known, and where everybody sees everything that happens to his neighbor,
not the slightest clue to this woman has been obtained? In order to
love, persons must see each other and consequently be seen. What do you
really think, you magistrates?" she added, plunging a fixed look into
the eyes of the _procureur-general_.

"We think that the woman belongs to the bourgeois or the commercial
class."

"I don't agree with you," said Madame Graslin. "A woman of that class
does not have elevated sentiments."

This reply drew all eyes on Veronique, and the whole company waited for
an explanation of so paradoxical a speech.

"During the hours I lie awake at night I have not been a