re commonplace gambler who is seen to be a
blackguard, and ends by begging. That style of gambler is no longer
seen in society of a certain topographical height. In these days bold
scoundrels die brilliantly in the chariot of vice with the trappings of
luxury. Diard, at least, did not buy his remorse at a low price; he made
himself one of these privileged men. Having studied the machinery of
government and learned all the secrets and the passions of the men in
power, he was able to maintain himself in the fiery furnace into which
he had sprung.

Madame Diard knew nothing of her husband's infernal life. Glad of his
abandonment, she felt no curiosity about him, and all her hours were
occupied. She devoted what money she had to the education of her
children, wishing to make men of them, and giving them straight-forward
reasons, without, however, taking the bloom from their young
imaginations. Through them alone came her interests and her emotions;
consequently, she suffered no longer from her blemished life. Her
children were to her what they are to many mothers for a long period
of time,--a sort of renewal of their own existence. Diard was now an
accidental circumstance, not a participator in her life, and since he
had ceased to be the father and the head of the family, Juana felt
bound to him by no tie other than that imposed by conventional laws.
Nevertheless, she brought up her children to the highest respect for
paternal authority, however imaginary it was for them. In this she was
greatly seconded by her husband's continual absence. If he had been much
in the home Diard would have neutralized his wife's efforts. The boys
had too much intelligence and shrewdness not to have judged their
father; and to judge a father is moral parricide.

In the long run, however, Juana's indifference to her husband wore
itself away; it even changed to a species of fear. She understood at
last how the conduct of a father might long weigh on the future of
her children, and her motherly solicitude brought her many, though
incomplete, revelations of the truth. From day to day the dread of some
unknown but inevitable evil in the shadow of which she lived became
more and more keen and terrible. Therefore, during the rare moments when
Diard and Juana met she would cast upon his hollow face, wan from nights
of gambling and furrowed by emotions, a piercing look, the penetration
of which made Diard shudder. At such times the assumed gaiety of h