part I should have thought disgraceful. Now, however, the welfare of
my family requires me to be as calm and stern as the figure of Justice
--and yet, I too have a heart that overflows with tenderness."

"But why," I said, "do you not use this great influence to master him
and govern him?"

"If it concerned myself only I should not attempt either to overcome
the dogged silence with which for days together he meets my arguments,
nor to answer his irrational remarks, his childish reasons. I have no
courage against weakness, any more than I have against childhood; they
may strike me as they will, I cannot resist. Perhaps I might meet
strength with strength, but I am powerless against those I pity. If I
were required to coerce Madeleine in some matter that would save her
life, I should die with her. Pity relaxes all my fibres and unstrings
my nerves. So it is that the violent shocks of the last ten years have
broken me down; my feelings, so often battered, are numb at times;
nothing can revive them; even the courage with which I once faced my
troubles begins to fail me. Yes, sometimes I am beaten. For want of
rest--I mean repose--and sea-baths by which to recover my nervous
strength, I shall perish. Monsieur de Mortsauf will have killed me,
and he will die of my death."

"Why not leave Clochegourde for a few months? Surely you could take
your children and go to the seashore."

"In the first place, Monsieur de Mortsauf would think he were lost if
I left him. Though he will not admit his condition he is well aware of
it. He is both sane and mad, two natures in one man, a contradiction
which explains many an irrational action. Besides this, he would have