or was still black; her language
had not become refined; she retained the same blunt familiar accent, and
at the end of five minutes' conversation with any one of importance she
could not resist calling him "my dear," to come morally near him. Her
commands had more fulness. In giving her orders, she had the manner of
a commander-in-chief, and it was useless to haggle when she had spoken.
The best thing to do was to obey, as well and as promptly as possible.

Placed in a political sphere, this marvellously gifted woman would
have been a Madame Roland; born to the throne, she would have been a
Catherine II.; there was genius in her. Sprung from the lower ranks,
her superiority had given her wealth; had she come from the higher, the
great mind might have governed the world.

Still she was not happy; she had been married fifteen years, and her
fireside was devoid of a cradle. During the first years she had rejoiced
at not having a child. Where could she have found time to occupy herself
with a baby? Business engrossed her attention; she had no leisure to
amuse herself with trifles. Maternity seemed to her a luxury for
rich women; she had her fortune to make. In the struggle against the
difficulties attending the enterprise she had begun, she had not had
time to look around her and perceive that her home was lonely. She
worked from morning till night. Her whole life was absorbed in this
work, and when night came, overcome with fatigue, she fell asleep, her
head filled with cares which stifled all tricks of the imagination.

Michel grieved, but in silence; his feeble and dependent nature missed a
child. He, whose mind lacked occupation, thought of the future. He said
to himself that the day when the dreamt-of fortune came would be more
welcome if there were an heir to whom to leave it. What was the good
of being rich, if the money went to collateral relatives? There was
his nephew Savinien, a disagreeable urchin whom he looked on with
indifference; and he was biased regarding his brother, who had all but
failed several times in business, and to whose aid he had come to save
the honor of the name. The mistress had not hesitated to help him, and
had prevented the signature of "Desvarennes" being protested. She had
not taunted him, having as large a heart as she had a mind. But Michel
had felt humiliated to see his own folk make a gap in the financial
edifice erected so laboriously by his wife. Out of this had gradually
sprung