.

THE MOTHER'S LOVE.
For several days the count remained assiduously beside his wife, showing her attentions to which self-interest imparted a sort of tenderness.
The countess saw, however, that she alone was the object of these attentions.

The hatred of the father for his son showed itself in every detail; he abstained from looking at him or touching him; he would rise abruptly and leave the room if the child cried; in short, he seemed to endure it living only through the hope of seeing it die.

But even this self-restraint was galling to the count.

The day on which he saw that the mother's intelligent eye perceived, without fully comprehending, the danger that threatened her son, he announced his departure on the morning after the mass for her churching was solemnized, under pretext of rallying his forces to the support of the king.
Such were the circumstances which preceded and accompanied the birth of Etienne d'Herouville.