“ADÉONNE. “P.S.--I ask pardon for the trouble I give you; I am yours for life, but that will not be long.” Eusebe sobbed and moaned. After having read and reread Adéonne’s letter, he summoned Jenny. “Jenny,” said he, “madame has not forgotten you: she has left you a dowry.” “How, monsieur? Then I can return to my native town. Ah! monsieur, poor madame was so good.” “From what town are you?” inquired Eusebe. “From Strasburg.” “Did madame know you were from Strasburg?” “No, monsieur. In Paris, Alsatians have difficulty in procuring places. Upon coming here, I said I was from Nancy.” “Did you ever hear of a turner named Antoine Krutger?” “Antoine Krutger!” exclaimed the girl. “Did you know him? He was my father.” “Was he ever attached to the army?” “Oh, yes, monsieur: he served in the cavalry at Saumur. If he had lived, I should have been better off than I am.” “My girl,” said Eusebe, after a pause, “all that is here belongs to you. Madame has made you her sole legatee.” “Ah, monsieur!” exclaimed Jenny, weeping with joy and sorrow, “I am very happy and very unhappy at the same time. I had no need of this to make me love madame like a sister.” CHAPTER XLVIII. Eusebe, oppressed with grief, returned home a prey to a violent fever. Notwithstanding his efforts to conceal his suffering, he was forced to take to his bed, where he remained for a month, almost without consciousness. When he recovered his senses, he found Paul Buck and Gredinette at his bedside. Eusebe asked for his wife: they told him that she had gone to attend a dying sister. Some days afterwards, Eusebe, being convalescent, walked in the garden, leaning on the arm of Gredinette. “Eusebe,” said the young woman, stopping suddenly, “since you must learn the truth sooner or later, I prefer relieving my mind by telling you at once. Prepare yourself to hear of a great misfortune.” “Speak!” said Eusebe: “I could not be more unhappy than I am.” After much hesitation and circumlocution, Gredinette informed Eusebe that his wife had eloped with Isidore Boncain, and that the guilty couple had carried away with them the money of the firm. Eusebe made no response, nor did his countenance betray any inward emotion. “He takes it better than I thought he would,” said Gredinette, in the evening, to Paul. By degrees, Eusebe was restored to health. One morning he said to his two friends,-- “I am about to bid you farewell. I am going to return to La Capelette, which I should never have quitted. I shall say good-bye to my father-in-law, and set out this very evening. Thanks for all your kind friendship: I shall never forget it. If, some day, weary of life, you should desire to taste the sweets of repose, come to my home, and I will love you as you have loved me.” “Do not go to see Bonnaud,” said Paul: “the distracted father accuses you of being the cause of his daughter’s fault.” “Accuses me!”