before getting rid of his wife and first-born. He saw neither wife nor
child; he saw the estates only, and hatred was softened by ambition.
The mother, who knew his nature, was even more surprised than the
bonesetter, and she still retained her instinctive fears, showing them
at times openly, for the courage of mothers seemed suddenly to have
doubled her strength.



CHAPTER III

THE MOTHER'S LOVE

For several days the count remained assiduously beside his wife,
showing her attentions to which self-interest imparted a sort of
tenderness. The countess saw, however, that she alone was the object
of these attentions. The hatred of the father for his son showed
itself in every detail; he abstained from looking at him or touching
him; he would rise abruptly and leave the room if the child cried; in
short, he seemed to endure it living only through the hope of seeing
it die. But even this self-restraint was galling to the count. The day
on which he saw that the mother's intelligent eye perceived, without
fully comprehending, the danger that threatened her son, he announced
his departure on the morning after the mass for her churching was
solemnized, under pretext of rallying his forces to the support of the
king.

Such were the circumstances which preceded and accompanied the birth
of Etienne d'Herouville. If the count had no other reason for wishing
the death of this disowned son poor Etienne would still have been the