condition. During the time
that followed this cruel scene, I was most wretched, and miserably
treated; only sometimes M. Germain, whom I seldom saw, kindly asked me
what made me unhappy; but shame prevented me from confessing anything to
him."

"Was not that about the time when he came to reside here?"

"Yes, sir, he was looking out for an apartment near the Rue du Temple or
de l'Arsenal. There was one to let here, and I told him of that one
which you now occupy, sir, and it suited him exactly. When he quitted
it, about two months ago, he begged me not to mention his new address
here, but that they knew it at M. Ferrand's."

The necessity under which Germain was to conceal himself from those who
were trying to find him explained all these precautions to Rodolph.

"And it never occurred to you to make a confidant of Germain?" he said
to Louise.

"No, sir, he was also a dupe to the hypocrisy of M. Ferrand; he called
him harsh and exacting; but he thought him the honestest man on the face
of the earth."

"When Germain was lodging here, did he never hear your father at times
accuse the notary of desiring to seduce you?"

"My father never expressed his fears before strangers; and besides, at
this period, I deceived his uneasiness, and comforted him by the
assurances that M. Ferrand no longer thought of me. Alas! my poor father
will now forgive me those falsehoods? I only employed them to
tranquillise your mind, father dear, that was all."

Morel made no reply; he only leaned his forehead on his two arms,
crossed on his working-board, and sobbed bitterly.

Rodolph made a sign to Louise not to address herself to her father, and
she continued thus:

"I led from this time a life of tears and perpetual anguish. By using
every precaution, I had contrived to conceal my condition from all eyes;
but I could not hope thus to hide it during the last two months. The
future became more and more alarming to me, as M. Ferrand had declared
that he would not keep me any longer in the house; and therefore I
should be deprived of the small resources which assisted our family to
live. Cursed and driven from my home by my father, for, after the
falsehoods I had told him to set his mind at ease, he would believe me
the accomplice, and not the victim of M. Ferrand, what was to become of
me? where could I find refuge or place myself in my condition? I then
had a criminal idea; but, fortunately, I recoiled from putting it into
executio