though I cannot--not
say--you see--because--oh, my head, my head!"

Louise looked at Rodolph in extreme alarm.

"He is suffering deeply; but let him calm himself. Go on."

Louise, after looking twice or thrice at Morel with great disquietude,
thus resumed:

"I clasped my infant to my breast, and was astonished at not hearing it
breathe. I said to myself, 'The breathing of a baby is so faint that it
is difficult to hear it.' But then it was so cold. I had no light, for
they never would leave one with me. I waited until the dawn came, trying
to keep it warm as well as I could; but it seemed to me colder and
colder. I said to myself then; 'It freezes so hard that it must be the
cold that chills it so.' At daybreak I carried my child to the window
and looked at it; it was stiff and cold. I placed my mouth to its mouth,
to try and feel its breath. I put my hand on its heart; but it did not
beat; it was dead."

And Louise burst into tears.

"Oh! at this moment," she continued, "something passed within me which
it is impossible to describe. I only remember confusedly what
followed,--it was like a dream,--it was at once despair, terror, rage,
and above all, I was seized with another fear; I no longer feared M.
Ferrand would strangle me, but I feared that, if they found my child
dead by my side, I should be accused of having killed it. Then I had but
one thought, and that was to conceal the corpse from everybody's sight;
and then my dishonour would not be known, and I should no longer have to
dread my father's anger. I should escape from M. Ferrand's vengeance,
because I could now leave his house, obtain another situation, and gain
something to help and support my family. Alas! sir, such were the
reasons which induced me not to say any thing, but try and hide my
child's remains from all eyes. I was wrong, I know; but, in the
situation in which I was, oppressed on all sides, worn out by suffering,
and almost mad, I did not consider to what I exposed myself if I should
be discovered."

"What torture! what torture!" said Rodolph with deep sympathy.

"The day was advancing," continued Louise, "and I had but a few moments
before me until the household would be stirring. I hesitated no longer,
but, wrapping up the unhappy babe as well as I could, I descended the
staircase silently, and went to the bottom of the garden to try and make
a hole in the ground to bury it; but it had frozen so hard in the night
that I could not dig