father having been a native of Liége, his mother a Parisian of
good family, who, in a moment of misplaced sentiment, as she
was wont in after years to sigh, had consented to marry a
handsome young Belgian officer, and had expiated her folly by
spending the greater part of her married life at Malines,
where her husband was stationed, and at Liége, where his
mother and sister resided. Adolphe's education, however, was
wholly French; for Madame Linders, who, during her husband's
life, had not ceased to mourn over her exile from her own
city, lost no time, after his death, in returning to Paris
with her two children, Thérèse, a girl of about twelve, and
Adolphe, then a child five or six years old.

Madame Linders had money, but not much, and she made it go
further than did ever Frenchwoman before, which is saying a
great deal. Adolphe must be educated, Adolphe must be clothed,
Adolphe was to be a great man some day; he was to go into the
army, make himself a name, become a General, a Marshal,--heaven
knows what glories the mother did not dream for him, as she
turned and twisted her old black silks, in the _entresol_ in the
Chaussée d'Antin, where she had her little apartment. She had
friends in Paris, and must keep up appearances for Adolphe's
sake, not to mention her own, and so could not possibly live
in a cheap out-of-the-way quarter.

As for Thérèse, she was of infinitely small account in the
family. She was plain, not too amiable, nor particularly
clever, and inclined to be _dévote;_ and, as in spite of
positive and negative failings, she also had to eat and be
clothed as well as her handsome fair brother, she could be