It was impossible, outrageous, monstrous, they
declared, that their daughters should be compelled to associate
with a girl like me--a nameless girl, who humiliated the other
girls with her ill-gotten wealth. The superior tried to take my
part; but these ladies declared they would take their daughters
from the convent if I were not sent away. There was no help for
it: I was sacrificed. Summoned by telegraph, M. de Chalusse
hastened to Lyons, and two days later I left Sainte-Marthe with
jeers and opprobrious epithets ringing in my ears."
X.
Once before, that very morning, the magistrate had witnessed a
display of the virile energy with which misfortune and suffering
had endowed this proud but naturally timid girl. But he was none
the less surprised at the sudden explosion of hatred which he now
beheld; for it was hatred. The way in which Mademoiselle
Marguerite's voice had quivered as she pronounced the name of
Anais de Rochecote proved, unmistakably, that hers was one of
those haughty natures that never forget an insult. All signs of
fatigue had now disappeared. She had sprung from her chair, and
remembrance of the shameful, cowardly affront she had received had
brought a vivid flush to her cheeks and a bright gleam to her
eyes.
"This atrocious humiliation happened scarcely a year ago,
monsieur," she resumed; "and there is but little left for me to
tell you. My expulsion from Sainte-Marthe made M.
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