:

"Adeline, you are an angel, and I am a wretch----"

"No, no," cried the Baroness, hastily laying her hand upon his lips to
hinder him from speaking evil of himself.

"Yes, for I have not at this moment a sou to give to Hortense, and I am
most unhappy. But since you open your heart to me, I may pour into it
the trouble that is crushing me.--Your Uncle Fischer is in difficulties,
and it is I who dragged him there, for he has accepted bills for me
to the amount of twenty-five thousand francs! And all for a woman who
deceives me, who laughs at me behind my back, and calls me an old
dyed Tom. It is frightful! A vice which costs me more than it would to
maintain a family!--And I cannot resist!--I would promise you here and
now never to see that abominable Jewess again; but if she wrote me two
lines, I should go to her, as we marched into fire under the Emperor."

"Do not be so distressed," cried the poor woman in despair, but
forgetting her daughter as she saw the tears in her husband's eyes.
"There are my diamonds; whatever happens, save my uncle."

"Your diamonds are worth scarcely twenty thousand francs nowadays. That
would not be enough for old Fischer, so keep them for Hortense; I will
see the Marshal to-morrow."

"My poor dear!" said the Baroness, taking her Hector's hands and kissing
them.

This was all the scolding he got. Adeline sacrificed her jewels, the
father made them a present to Hortense, she regarded this as a sublime
action, and she was helpless.

"He is the master; he could take everything, and he leaves me my
diamonds; he is divine!"

This was the current of her thoughts; and indeed the wife had gained
more by her sweetness than another perhaps could have achieved by a fit
of angry jealousy.

The moralist cannot deny that, as a rule, well-bred though very wicked
men are far more attractive and lovable than virtuous men; having crimes
to atone for, they crave indulgence by anticipation, by being lenient
to the shortcomings of those who judge them, and they are thought most
kind. Though there are no doubt some charming people among the virtuous,
Virtue considers itself fair enough, unadorned, to be at no pains to
please; and then all really virtuous persons, for the hypocrites do not
count, have some slight doubts as to their position; they believe that
they are cheated in the bargain of life on the whole, and they indulge
in acid comments after the fashion of those who think themselves
unapp