And finally, she contented herself with answering: "He has a good heart, he is very fond of me.

It is a great misfortune that we should have been ruined before he could enter the Ecole Normale.

It was impossible for him to prepare for the examination.

But at the Lycee he was such a diligent and intelligent pupil!" "You lost your husband when your son was ten years old, did you not ?" said Abbe Rose.
At this she blushed again, thinking that her husband's story was known to the two priests.

"Yes, my poor husband never had any luck," she said.
"His difficulties embittered and excited his mind, and he died in prison.
He was sent there through a disturbance at a public meeting, when he had the misfortune to wound a police officer.