lived, had known
he was a married man. Two years after his death Madame de la Chanterie
discovered that a second Madame de la Chanterie existed, widowed like
herself, and, like her, ruined. That bigamist had found two angels
incapable of discarding him.

"Towards 1803," resumed Alain after a pause, "Monsieur de Boisfrelon,
uncle of Madame de la Chanterie, came to Paris, his name having been
erased from the list of _emigres_, and brought Madame the sum of two
hundred thousand francs which her father-in-law, the old purveyor, had
formerly entrusted to him for the benefit of his son's children. He
persuaded the widow to return to Normandy; where she completed the
education of her daughter and purchased on excellent terms and still by
the advice of her uncle, a patrimonial estate."

"Ah!" cried Godefroid.

"All that is still nothing," said Monsieur Alain; "we have not yet
reached the period of storms and darkness. I resume:

"In 1807, after four years of rest and peace, Madame de la Chanterie
married her daughter to a gentleman of rank, whose piety, antecedents,
and fortune offered every guarantee that could be given,--a man who,
to use a popular saying, 'was after every one's own heart,' in the best
society of the provincial city where Madame and her daughter passed
their winters. I should tell you that this society was composed of
seven or eight families belonging to the highest nobility in France:
d'Esgrignon, Troisville, Casteran, Nouatre, etc. At the end of eighteen
months the baron deserted his wife, and disappeared in Paris, where he
changed his name.

"Madame de la Chanterie never knew the causes of this desertion until
the lightning of a dreadful storm revealed them. Her daughter, brought
up with anxious care and trained in the purest religious sentiments,
kept total silence as to her troubles. This lack of confidence in her
mother was a painful blow to Madame de la Chanterie. Already she had
several times noticed in her daughter indications of the reckless
disposition of the father, increased in the daughter by an almost virile
strength of will.

"The husband, however, abandoned his home of his own free will, leaving
his affairs in a pitiable condition. Madame de la Chanterie is, even to
this day, amazed at the catastrophe, which no human foresight could have
prevented. The persons she prudently consulted before the marriage had
assured her that the suitor's fortune was clear and sound, and that
no mortga