she paused. Such emotion in this woman
made of sulphur and flame, made Valerie shudder.

"Well, at any rate, I have found you," said Lisbeth, taking Valerie's
hand, "that is some consolation in this dreadful trouble.--We shall
be true friends; and why should we ever part? I shall never cross
your track. No one will ever be in love with me!--Those who would
have married me, would only have done it to secure my Cousin Hulot's
interest. With energy enough to scale Paradise, to have to devote it to
procuring bread and water, a few rags, and a garret!--That is martyrdom,
my dear, and I have withered under it."

She broke off suddenly, and shot a black flash into Madame Marneffe's
blue eyes, a glance that pierced the pretty woman's soul, as the point
of a dagger might have pierced her heart.

"And what is the use of talking?" she exclaimed in reproof to herself.
"I never said so much before, believe me! The tables will be turned
yet!" she added after a pause. "As you so wisely say, let us sharpen our
teeth, and pull down all the hay we can get."

"You are very wise," said Madame Marneffe, who had been frightened by
this scene, and had no remembrance of having uttered this maxim. "I am
sure you are right, my dear child. Life is not so long after all, and
we must make the best of it, and make use of others to contribute to our
enjoyment. Even I have learned that, young as I am. I was brought up a
spoilt child, my father married ambitiously, and almost forgot me, after
making me his idol and bringing me up like a queen's daughter! My poor
mother, who filled my head with splendid visions, died of grief at
seeing me married to an office clerk with twelve hundred francs a year,
at nine-and-thirty an aged and hardened libertine, as corrupt as
the hulks, looking on me, as others looked on you, as a means of
fortune!--Well, in that wretched man, I have found the best of husbands.
He prefers the squalid sluts he picks up at the street corners, and
leaves me free. Though he keeps all his salary to himself, he never asks
me where I get money to live on----"

And she in her turn stopped short, as a woman does who feels herself
carried away by the torrent of her confessions; struck, too, by
Lisbeth's eager attention, she thought well to make sure of Lisbeth
before revealing her last secrets.

"You see, dear child, how entire is my confidence in you!" she presently
added, to which Lisbeth replied by a most comforting nod.

An oath m