Then I recollected that this was a different story from that tale of a monetary difficulty which I had related to Madame's husband ten minutes earlier.

I glanced at him to see whether he had noticed the discrepancy, but was instantly relieved of my anxiety, so completely was the old man absorbed in an affectionate and somewhat humble contemplation of his wife.

It was easy to see how matters stood in the Clericy household, and I conceived a sudden feeling of relief that so delicate a flower as Mademoiselle de Clericy should have so capable a guardian in the person of her mother.

Evil takes that shape in which it is first held up to our vision.

Incompetent and careless mothers are in fact criminals.