"I have had news ... guess, of whom...."
"I do not know."
"Of Julie ... of your sister.... She is not happy."
"It would be a scandal if she were."
"Do not speak so, my son, she is your sister. Julie is not a bad woman; she had a good disposition, which misfortune has developed. She loves you. I can assure you, Évariste, that she only desires a hard-working, exemplary life and her fondest wish is to be reconciled to her friends. There is nothing to prevent your seeing her again. She has married Fortuné Chassagne."
"She has written to you?"
"No."
"How, then, have you had news of her, mother?"
"It was not by letter, Évariste; it was...."
He sprang up and stopped her with a savage cry: