Sambucco had been as good a manager as she was mother, she would have left Clementine a respectable fortune, but she regulated her affairs badly and got herself under heavy embarrassments.

A neighboring notary relieved her of a round sum; and two farms which she had paid dearly for, brought her almost nothing.

In short, she no longer knew what her situation was, and began to lose all control of it, when a sister of her husband, an old maid, pinched and pious, expressed a desire to live with her and use their resources in common.

The arrival of this long-toothed spinster strangely frightened the little Clementine, who hid herself under the furniture and nestled among her mother's skirts; but it was the salvation of the house.Mlle.

Sambucco was not one of the most spirituelle nor one of the most romantic of women, but she was Order incarnated.