ot have the courage to open the letter."

"My dear mother, without opening it, I can tell you almost word for word
what it contains. Listen: 'Madame,--Your fate and that of your daughter
are so worthy of interest, that I beg you will come to me, in case you
should like to undertake the superintendence of my house.'"

"Pray, my dearest, I beseech you, do not give way to vain hopes; the
disappointment would be terrible!" said Madame de Fermont, taking the
letter.

"Come, dear mamma," said Claire, smiling, and excited by one of those
feelings of certainty so natural to her age, "give me the letter; I have
courage to read it!"

"No," said Madame de Fermont, "I will read it! It is from the Comtesse
d'Orbigny."

"So much the better," replied Claire.

"We shall see." And Madame de Fermont read as follows in a trembling
voice:

"'MADAME:--M. the Comte d'Orbigny, who has been a great invalid
for some time, could not reply to you during my absence--'"

"You see, mamma, it was no one's fault."

"Listen, listen!

"'On arriving from Paris this morning, I hasten to write to you,
madame, after having discussed your letter with M. d'Orbigny. He
recollects but very indistinctly the intimacy you allude to as
having subsisted between him and your brother. As to the name of
your husband, madame, it is not unknown to M. d'Orbigny; but he
cannot recall to mind under what circumstances he has heard it.
The spoliation of which you so unhesitatingly accuse M. Jacques
Ferrand, whom we have the happiness to call our solicitor, is,
in the eyes of M. d'Orbigny, a cruel calumny, whose effects you
have by no means calculated upon. My husband, as well as myself,
madame, know and admire the extreme probity of the respectable
and pious individual whom you so blindly assail; and I am
compelled to tell you, madame, that M. d'Orbigny, whilst he
regrets the painful situation in which you are placed, and the
real cause of which it is not his business to find out, feels it
impossible to afford you the assistance requested. Accept,
madame, with the expression of M. d'Orbigny's regrets, my best
compliments.

"'COMTESSE D'ORBIGNY.'"

The mother and daughter looked at each other perfectly stupefied, and
incapable of uttering a word. Father Micou rapped at the door, and said:

"Madame, may I come in for the postage and commissio