There was in her eyes, the pupils of which suddenly dilated, a gleam of genuine gratitude which convinced her companion that he had seen correctly.

He had uttered just the words of which she had need.

In the face of that proof, he was suddenly overwhelmed by an access of shame and of pity--of shame, because in his thoughts he had insulted the unhappy girl--of pity, because she had to suffer a blow so cruel, if, indeed, her mother had been exposed to her.
It must have been on the preceding afternoon or that very morning that she had received the horrible letter, for, during the visit to the Palais Castagna, she had been, by turns, gay and quiet, but so childish, while on that particular evening it was no longer the child who suffered, but the woman.

Dorsenne resumed: "You see, we writers are exposed to those abominations.

A book which succeeds, a piece which pleases, an article which is extolled, calls forth from the envious unsigned letters which wound us or those whom we love.