torpor of meditation either gloomy or merely pensive, they knew she
bore upon her heart the miseries of others, and had doubtless that
morning been initiated in some fresh sorrow, or had penetrated to
some haunt where vices terrify the soul with their candor.

The viscount, now promoted to be _procureur-general_, would
occasionally blame her for certain unintelligent acts of charity by
which, as he knew from his secret police-reports, she had given
encouragement to criminal schemes.

"If you ever want money for any of your paupers, let me be a sharer in
your good deeds," said old Grossetete, taking Veronique's hand.

"Ah!" she replied with a sigh, "it is impossible to make everybody
rich."

At the beginning of this year an event occurred which was destined to
change the whole interior life of this woman and to transform the
splendid expression of her countenance into something far more
interesting in the eyes of painters.

Becoming uneasy about his health, Graslin, to his wife's despair, no
longer desired to live on the ground-floor. He returned to the
conjugal chamber and allowed himself to be nursed. The news soon
spread throughout Limoges that Madame Graslin was pregnant. Her
sadness, mingled with joy, struck the minds of her friends, who then
for the first time perceived that in spite of her virtues she had been
happy in the fact of living separate from her husband. Perhaps she had
hoped for some better fate ever since the time when, as it was known,
the attorney-general had declined to marry the richest heiress in the