can't live as you do without attracting comment in a small town. People ask themselves—and not without some justice, as you must admit—the reason of your voluntary imprisonment. All the more so because, as I hear, your servant, Adèle, keeps a silent tongue in her head; and that sets public opinion against you. Lastly, they say ..."
"What?"
"Well, they say that you are leading such a secret existence because ..."
"Because what?"
Mme. de la Vaudraye hesitated, or rather seemed to hesitate, and then blurted out:
"Because you do not live alone."
She rose, thinking that Gilberte must be crushed under this accusation. But Gilberte, casting about ingenuously for what her visitor could have meant, repeated:
"Not alone! Well, of course not, as Adèle is here, with her husband and her son!"
"There, don't be alarmed, child," con-
