Robert's affection for Laurence was that of a relation, the respect of a noble for a girl of his own caste.

In matters of sentiment the elder d'Hauteserre belonged to the class of men who consider woman as an appendage to man, limiting her sphere to the physical duties of maternity; demanding perfection in that respect, but regarding her mentally as of no account.

To such men the admittance of woman as an actual sharer in society, in the body politic, in the family, meant the subversion of the social system.

In these days we are so far removed from this theory of primitive people that almost all women, even those who do not desire the fatal emancipation offered by the new sects, will be shocked in merely hearing of it; but it must be owned that Robert d'Hauteserre had the misfortune to think in that way.

Robert was a man of the middle-ages, Adrien a man of to-day.