unes; we make a sort of bed to rest
upon; and, if it is hard, hope to make it tolerable. If Lucien looked
the picture of despair, poetic charm was not wanting to the picture.
His face had been tanned by the sunlight of the open road, and the deep
sadness visible in his features overshadowed his poet's brow. The change
in him told so plainly of sufferings endured, his face was so worn by
sharp misery, that no one could help pitying him. Imagination had fared
forth into the world and found sad reality at the home-coming. Eve was
smiling in the midst of her joy, as the saints smile upon martyrdom.
The face of a young and very fair woman grows sublimely beautiful at the
touch of grief; Lucien remembered the innocent girlish face that he saw
last before he went to Paris, and the look of gravity that had come over
it spoke so eloquently that he could not but feel a painful impression.
The first quick, natural outpouring of affection was followed at once
by a reaction on either side; they were afraid to speak; and when Lucien
almost involuntarily looked round for another who should have been
there, Eve burst into tears, and Lucien did the same, but Mme. Chardon's
haggard face showed no sign of emotion. Eve rose to her feet and went
downstairs, partly to spare her brother a word of reproach, partly to
speak to Marion.

"Lucien is so fond of strawberries, child, we must find some
strawberries for him."

"Oh, I was sure that you would want to welcome M. Lucien; you shall have
a nice little breakfast and a good dinner, too."

"Lucien," said Mme. Chardon when the mother and son were left alone,
"you have a great deal to repair here. You went away that we all
might be proud of you; you have plunged us into want. You have all but
destroyed your brother's opportunity of making a fortune that he only
cared to win for the sake of his new family. Nor is this all that you
have destroyed----" said the mother.

There was a dreadful pause; Lucien took his mother's reproaches in
silence.

"Now begin to work," Mme. Chardon went on more gently. "You tried to
revive the noble family of whom I come; I do not blame you for it. But
the man who undertakes such a task needs money above all things, and
must bear a high heart in him; both were wanting in your case.
We believed in you once, our belief has been shaken. This was a
hard-working, contented household, making its way with difficulty; you
have troubled their peace. The first offence may