She no longer spoke of retiring from business.

The discouragement which had seized her left her as if by magic.

The house which had been so dull for some months became noisy and gay.

The child, like a sunbeam, had scattered the clouds.
It was then that the most unlooked-for phenomenon, which was so considerably to influence Madame Desvarennes's life, occurred.

At the moment when the mistress seemed provided by chance with the heiress so much longed for, she learned with surprise that she was about to become a mother! After sixteen years of married life, this discovery was almost a discomfiture.