“Ha, yes! because he _chauffed_; women do like things that are out of the way. However, nothing ever did surprise the community more than that love affair. Catherine Curieux lived as virtuous a life as a holy virgin; she passed for a pearl of purity in her village of Vizay, which is really a small town in the Correze on the line between the two departments. Her father and mother are farmers to the Messieurs Brezac. Catherine Curieux was about seventeen when Farrabesche was sent to the galleys. The Farrabesches were an old family from the same region, who settled in the commune of Montegnac; they hired their farm from the village. The father and mother Farrabesche are dead, but Catherine’s three sisters are married, one in Aubusson, another in Limoges, and a third in Saint-Leonard.” “Do you think Farrabesche knows where Catherine Curieux is?” asked Madame Graslin. “If he did know he’d break his parole. Oh! he’d go to her. As soon as he came back from the galleys he got Monsieur Bonnet to ask for the little boy whom the grandfather and grandmother were taking care of; and Monsieur Bonnet obtained the child.” “Does no one know what became of the mother?” “No one,” said Colorat. “The girl felt that she was ruined; she was afraid to stay in her own village. She went to Paris. What is she doing there? Well, that’s the question; but you might as well hunt for a marble among the stones on that plain as look for her there.” They were now riding up the ascent to the chateau as Colorat pointed to the plain below. Madame Sauviat, evidently uneasy, Aline and the other servants were waiting at the gate, not knowing what to think of this long absence. “My dear,” said Madame Sauviat, helping her daughter to dismount, “you must be very tired.” “No, mother,” replied Madame Graslin, in so changed a voice that Madame Sauviat looked closely at her and then saw the mark of tears. Madame Graslin went to her own rooms with Aline, who took her orders for all that concerned her personal life. She now shut herself up and would not even admit her mother; when Madame Sauviat asked to enter, Aline stopped her, saying, “Madame has gone to sleep.”