almost the whole of his fortune, about 100,000 francs, to his
daughter, appointing her mother her legal guardian with a right to the
enjoyment of the income on the capital until Marie should come of age.
Madame Boyer had not hitherto taken her daughter's religious devotion
very seriously. But now that the greater part of her husband's fortune
was left to Marie, she realised that, should her daughter persist in
her intention of taking the veil, that fortune would in a very few
years pass into the hands of the sisterhood. Without delay Madame Boyer
exercised her authority, and withdrew Marie from the convent. The girl
quitted it with every demonstration of genuine regret.

Marie Boyer when she left the convent was growing into a tall and
attractive woman, her figure slight and elegant, her hair and eyes
dark, dainty and charming in her manner. Removed from the influences of
convent life, her religious devotion became a thing of the past. In her
new surroundings she gave herself up to the enjoyments of music and
the theatre. She realised that she was a pretty girl, whose beauty
well repaid the hours she now spent in the adornment of her person. The
charms of Marie were not lost on Leon Vitalis. Mean and significant
in appearance, Vitalis would seem to have been one of those men who,
without any great physical recommendation, have the knack of making
themselves attractive to women. After her husband's death Madame Boyer
had yielded herself completely to his influence and her own undoubted
passion for him. She had given him the money with which to purchase
a business of his own as a second-hand bookseller. This trade the
enterprising and greedy young man combined with money-lending and he
clandestine sale of improper books and photographs. To such a man the
coming of Marie Boyer was a significant event. She was younger, more
attractive than her mother; in a very few years the whole of her
father's fortune would be hers. Slowly Vitalis set himself to win the
girl's affections. The mother's suspicions were aroused; her jealousy
was excited. She sent Marie to complete her education at a convent
school in Lyons. This was in the April of 1875. By this time Marie
and Vitalis had become friendly enough to arrange to correspond
clandestinely during the girl's absence from home. Marie was so far
ignorant of the relations of Vitalis with her mother.

Her daughter sent away, Madame Boyer surrendered herself with complete
abandonment