She flung off the coverlet, and showed me, near her shoulder, a livid triangular scar—the handiwork of the execrable Léonie.
“Yes, you may well kiss it,” she went on. “I nearly died of it. Your uncle looked after me, and saved me. I may well say that.
“At that time, your uncle was a fine fellow—not stuck-up. He often spoke to me. I thought that flattering. The head surgeon! Think of that! And he talked so well, too. He gave me long sermons, just as fine as any in Church, about my life: it was bad, I ought to change it, and so on, and so forth. And all this without having the least appearance of being disgusted with me, and so sincerely that I for my part, began to be disgusted with it myself, and not to wish for any more of the gay life, or any more Alcide. Illness, you know, that cools one’s blood; and Lerne said to me one fine day, ‘You are cured now, and can go away when you like, only it is not enough to have taken a good resolution—you must keep it. Will you come to my house? You shall be the laundry-maid, and you will earn your living far from your old companions, and all on the square, too,’ he said.
“All this puzzled me. I said to myself, ‘Oh, talk away. That is only a pretty speech to fool me. One does not offer to keep a woman for the love of art.’
“But all the same, Lerne’s kindness, his rank, his fame, and a certain kind of niceness in him, made me more grateful, and made it into a sort of affection, do you see, and I accepted his proposal, and all that might follow.
“Well, would you believe it! Not at all! There still was a saint on earth, and that was he. For a whole year he kept away from me.
“I had kept my journey secret, for the idea of Alcide finding me again kept me from sleeping.
“‘Oh, do not be afraid,’ said Lerne, ‘I am no longer the hospital surgeon, I am going to work at research. We are going to live in the country, and nobody will come to seek you there.’
“So that is how I was brought here.
“Ah, you should have seen the château and the park, gardens, servants, carriages, and horses—nothing wanting! I was quite happy.