sins of the past in tears of blood. I was sure of it. Hateful as were
the measures which she took for regaining control of her husband's
money, were they not the result of a mother's love, and a desire to
repair the wrongs she had done her children? And again, it may be,
like many a woman who has experienced the storm of lawless love, she
felt a longing to lead a virtuous life again. Perhaps she only learned
the worth of that life when she came to reap the woeful harvest sown
by her errors.

"Every time that little Ernest came out of his father's room, she put
him through a searching examination as to all that his father had done
or said. The boy willingly complied with his mother's wishes, and told
her even more than she asked in her anxious affection, as he thought.

"My visit was a ray of light for the Countess. She was determined to
see in me the instrument of the Count's vengeance, and resolved that I
should not be allowed to go near the dying man. I augured ill of all
this, and earnestly wished for an interview, for I was not easy in my
mind about the fate of the counter-deed. If it should fall into the
Countess' hands, she might turn it to her own account, and that would
be the beginning of a series of interminable lawsuits between her and
Gobseck. I knew the usurer well enough to feel convinced that he would
never give up the property to her; there was room for plenty of legal
quibbling over a series of transfers, and I alone knew all the ins and
outs of the matter. I was minded to prevent such a tissue of
misfortune, so I went to the Countess a second time.

"I have noticed, madame," said Derville, turning to the Vicomtesse,
and speaking in a confidential tone, "certain moral phenomena to which
we do not pay enough attention. I am naturally an observer of human