The news fell upon us like a thunder-bolt.

My father and I had become too much accustomed to regard as our own the deposit which had been intrusted to our fidelity; we have been punished for it.

At least, we have done our duty, and now all is ended.

She whom you have called your friend, will be, hereafter, only a poor peasant girl, as her mother was before her.'" The most subtle observer would have supposed that Mlle.

Blanche was experiencing the keenest emotion.