"He began to shout like a madman: 'Do something for that loafer--that blackguard, that convict? never!' "And he continued to call me names, as if he had done nothing else all his life but collect them. "I was angry, but mother told me to hold my tongue, and she resumed: 'Then you must want him to starve, for you know that I leave no money.' "Without being deterred, he continued: 'Rosette, I have given you thirty-five thousand francs a year for thirty years,--that makes more than a million. I have enabled you to live like a wealthy, a beloved, and I may say, a happy woman. I owe nothing to that fellow, who has spoiled our late years, and he will not get a cent from me. It is useless to insist. Tell him the name of his father, if you wish. I am sorry, but I wash my hands of him.' "Then mother turned toward me. I thought: 'Good! now I'm going to find my real father--if he has money, I'm saved.' "She went on: 'Your father, the Baron de Vilbois, is to-day the Abbé Vilbois, curé of Garandou, near Toulon. He was my lover before I left him for the Count!' "And she told me all, excepting that she had deceived you about her pregnancy. But women, you know, never tell the whole truth." Sneeringly, unconsciously, he was revealing the depths of his foul nature. With beaming face he raised the glass to his lips and continued: "Mother died two days--two days later. We followed her remains to the grave, he and I--say--wasn't it funny?--he and I--and three servants--that was all. He cried like a calf--we were side by side--we looked like father and son. "Then he went back to the house alone. I was thinking to myself: 'I'll have to clear out now and without a penny, too.' I owned only fifty francs. What could I do to revenge myself? "He touched me on the arm and said: 'I wish to speak to you.' I followed him into his office. He sat down in front of the desk and, wiping away his tears, he told me that he would not be as hard on me as he had said he would to mother. He begged me to leave you alone. That--that concerns only you and me. He offered me a thousand-franc note--a thousand--a thousand francs. What could a fellow like me do with a thousand francs?--I saw that there were very many bills in the drawer. The sight of the money made me wild. I put out my hand as if to take the note he offered me, but instead of doing so, I sprang at him, threw him to the ground and choked him till he grew purple. When I saw that he was going to give up the ghost, I gagged and bound him. Then I undressed him, laid him on his stomach and--ah! ah! ah!--I avenged you in a funny way!" He stopped to cough, for he was choking with merriment. His ferocious, mirthful smile reminded the priest once more of the woman who had wrought his undoing. "And then?" he inquired.