ts?

When Louis spoke of Raoul, she could scarcely conceal her emotion; her
maternal heart yearned toward the innocent child who was expiating his
mother's faults.

A chill of horror passed over her at the idea of his enduring the pangs
of hunger.

Her child wanting bread, when she, his mother, was rolling in wealth!

Ah, why could she not lay all her possessions at his feet? With what
delight would she undergo the greatest privations for his sake! If she
could but send him enough money to support him comfortably!

But no; she could not take this step without compromising herself and
her family.

Prudence forbade her acceptance of the intervention of Louis de
Clameran.

To confide in him, was placing herself, and all she held dear, at his
mercy--at the mercy of a man who inspired her with instinctive terror.

Then she began to ask herself if he had spoken the truth, or had trumped
up this story to frighten her?

In thinking over Louis's story, it seemed improbable and disconnected.

If Gaston had been living in Paris, in the poverty described by his
brother, why had he not demanded of the married woman the deposit
intrusted to the maiden?

Why, when anxious about the future of their child, had he not come to
her, if he had such confidence in her generosity? If he intrusted her on
his death-bed, why had he not shown this trust while living?

A thousand vague apprehensions beset her mind; she felt suspicion and
distrust of everyone and everything.

She was aware that the time had come for her to take a decisive step,
and upon this step depended her whole future peace and happiness. If she
once yielded, what would not be exacted of her in the future? She would
certainly be made to suffer if she refused to yield. If she had only
some wise friend to advise her!

For a moment she thought of throwing herself at her husband's feet and
confessing all.

Unfortunately, she thrust aside this means of salvation. She pictured
to herself the mortification and sorrow that her noble-hearted husband
would suffer upon discovering, after a lapse of twenty years, how
shamefully he had been deceived, how his confidence and love had been
betrayed.

Having been once deceived, would he ever trust her again? Would he
believe in her fidelity as a wife, when he discovered that she had
uttered her marriage vows to love and honor him, when her heart was
already given to another?

She knew Andre was too magnanimous to ever allu