“But, papa, I assure you, everybody was exceedingly kind to me. M. Marcel Baradier accompanied me right to the carriage. Was it not quite natural?” “Yes, yes, perfectly natural. Repeat to me all they said to you. Did they make no mention of me?” “Not once. Your name was not even pronounced. I was surprised at that, for the Baradier family must know you. You formerly lived in the same town.” “Yes, we lived in the same town, and left it together. But we did not travel the same road. For, I ought to tell you, there was no friendship between us. My father and the Graffs had been hostile to one another. Graff is Baradier’s brother-in-law.” “But all this happened so long ago that it is doubtless forgotten.” “No, my dear girl,” said Elias, solemnly. “Nothing is forgotten.” “So you are not well disposed towards Madeline’s friends?” “Had I been ill disposed, should I have permitted you to call on them?” “Then it is they who wish you ill? That must be unjust on their part, for you are so good and kind. There must be some misunderstanding, and you do not know one another sufficiently.” “It is not so, my child. We have long known one another very well, and have always been opposed to one another. You are grown up now, and in a position to learn what life has in store for you. Very well! From the Baradiers and Graffs you have nothing favourable to expect. Every time you have dealings with them be on your guard. I had made up my mind to enlighten you some day on the situation this inveterate hostility has created between us. To-day is as good a time as any. I permitted you to enter the house which has received Mademoiselle de Trémont that you might not be in a position to accuse me of having concealed from you the least fraction of truth. Now you have seen the Baradiers, and you are convinced that I can treat with them on equal terms. Your grandfather Lichtenbach suffered a great deal at their hands in days gone by. He was an honest man, who commenced life in a very humble way. They humiliated and tortured him. When I was a poor little trader they spread abroad all kinds of calumny and slander about me. But I repaid them for all their insolence to old Lichtenbach. All this happened before we had left Lorraine—long before you were born. Still, this kind of hatred leaves an almost indestructible ferment in the heart. Whatever goes back to days of childhood and youth remains graven more firmly in the memory than things that happen in mature life. The Baradiers and Graffs came to Paris, so did I at a later date. We have been separated by life more completely than by immense distances, for in this great city, from street to street, quarter to quarter, one is more separated than from province to province. And yet, we have never forgotten the past. The Baradiers and Graffs are the inveterate enemies of the Lichtenbachs. Keep that well in your mind, my child, and let it be the rule of your conduct under every circumstance in life.”