an excellent father, and now for the first time since they had started
she turned towards him, and looked him full in the face: "Ah! You will
hear some disagreeable things, but you must know that I am prepared for
everything, that I fear nothing, and you less than anyone, to-day."

He also was looking into her eyes, and already he was shaking with
passion, and he said in a low voice: "You are mad." "No, but I will no
longer be the victim of the hateful penalty of maternity, which you have
inflicted on me for eleven years! I wish to live like a woman of the
world, as I have a right to do, as all women have the right to do."

He suddenly grew pale again, and stammered: "I do not understand you."
"Oh! yes; you understand me well enough. It is now three months since I
had my last child, and as I am still very beautiful, and as, in spite of
all your efforts you cannot spoil my figure, as you just now perceived,
when you saw me on the outside flight of steps, you think it is time
that I should become pregnant again." "But you are talking nonsense!"
"No, I am not. I am thirty, and I have had seven children, and we have
been married eleven years, and you hope that this will go on for ten
years longer, after which you will leave off being jealous."

He seized her arm and squeezed it, saying: "I will not allow you to talk
to me like that, for long." "And I shall talk to you till the end, until
I have finished all I have to say to you, and if you try to prevent me,
I shall raise my voice so that the two servants, who are on the box, may
hear. I only allowed you to come with me for that object, for I have
these witnesses who will oblige you to listen to me, and to contain
yourself; so now, pay attention to what I say. I have always felt an
antipathy for you, and I have always let you see it, for I have never
lied, Monsieur. You married me in spite of myself; you forced my