mother.

"I am going out," she said; "I will return at half-past eight or nine
o'clock."

"But your husband will not see you before going to the hospital."

"You will tell him that I have gone out."

She returned at half-past nine. Madame Cormier had finished dressing.

"At last you have come," she said.

But at sight of her daughter's face she saw that something had happened.
"My God! What is the matter?" she asked, trembling.

"Something serious--very serious, but unfortunately it is irreparable.
We must leave here, never to return."

"Your husband--"

"You must never speak to me of him. This the only thing I ask of you."

"Alas! I understand. It is what I foresaw, what I said would happen.
You cannot bear the contempt that he shows us on account of your
brother."

"We must hereafter be strangers to each other, and this is why we leave
this house."