to you like that, does it not?"

"Oh, yes, father."

"Well, my dear child"--I fancy I noticed at that moment that she had at
the outer corner of her eyes a kind of dark mark something like an arrow
-head--"try, my dear child, to convince your husband, who in his heart--"
In addition, her lashes, very long and somewhat curled, were underlined,
I might almost say, by a dark streak expanding and shading off delicately
toward the middle of the eye. This physical peculiarity did not seem to
me natural, but an effect of premeditated coquetry.

Strange fact, the verification of such weakness in this candid heart only
increased my compassion. I continued in a gentle tone:

"Strive to bring your husband to God. Abstinence is not only a religious
observance, it is also a salutary custom. 'Non solum lex Dei, sed
etiam'. Have you done everything to bring back your husband?"

"Yes, father, everything."

"Be precise, my child; I must know all."

"Well, father, I have tried sweetness and tenderness."

I thought to myself that this husband must be a wretch.

"I have implored him for the sake of our child," continued the little
angel, "not to risk his salvation and my own. Once or twice I even told
him that the spinach was dressed with gravy when it was not. Was I