ater of a cascade seems motionless. He raised the veil
of flesh which hid the secret springs by which the soul reacts upon
the body; he studied the diverse symptoms which his long experience had
noted in persons committed to his care, and he compared them with those
contained in this frail body, the bones of which frightened him by their
delicacy, as the milk-white skin alarmed him by its want of substance.
He tried to bring the teachings of his science to bear upon the future
of that angelic child, and he was dizzy in so doing, as though he stood
upon the verge of an abyss; the too vibrant voice, the too slender bosom
of the young girl filled him with dread, and he questioned himself after
questioning her.

"You suffer here!" he cried at last, driven by a last thought which
summed up his whole meditation.

She bent her head gently.

"By God's grace!" said the old man, with a sigh, "I will take you to the
Chateau d'Herouville, and there you shall take sea-baths to strengthen
you."

"Is that true, father? You are not laughing at your little Gabrielle? I
have so longed to see the castle, and the men-at-arms, and the captains
of monseigneur."

"Yes, my daughter, you shall really go there. Your nurse and Jean shall
accompany you."

"Soon?"

"To-morrow," said the old man, hurrying into the garden to hide his
agitation from his mother and his child.

"God is my witness," he cried to himself, "that no ambitious
thought impels me. My daughter to save, poor little Etienne to make
happy,--those are my only motives."

If he thus interrogated himself it was because, in the depths of his
consciousness, he felt an inextinguishable satisfaction in knowing that
the success of his project would make Gabrielle some day the Duchesse
d'Herouville. There is always a man in a father. He walked about a long
time, and when he came in to supper he took delight for the rest of the
evening in watching his daughter in the midst of the soft brown poesy
with which he had surrounded her; and when, before she went to bed,
they all--the grandmother, the nurse, the doctor, and Gabrielle--knelt
together to say their evening prayer, he added the words,--

"Let us pray to God to bless my enterprise."

The eyes of the grandmother, who knew his intentions, were moistened
with what tears remained to her. Gabrielle's face was flushed with
happiness. The father trembled, so much did he fear some catastrophe.

"After all," his mother said to him,