But she gave me the very best of reasons. She said she
regretted her past flirtations and her extravagance. She wished to
earn a little money, being ashamed of doing nothing while I was killing
myself with work. She wanted to save, to economize, so that our child
should not be obliged in his turn to go to sea. She was to get a very
good price, that we could save up to go towards the three hundred
pistoles. That confounded meadow, to which she alluded, decided me."
"Did she not tell you of the commission with which she was charged?"
asked the magistrate.
This question astonished Lerouge. He thought that there was good reason
to say that justice sees and knows everything.
"Not then," he answered, "but you will see. Eight days after, the
postman brought a letter, asking her to go to Paris to fetch the
child. It arrived in the evening. 'Very well,' said she, 'I will start
to-morrow by the diligence.' I didn't say a word then; but next morning,
when she was about to take her seat in the diligence, I declared that I
was going with her. She didn't seem at all angry, on the contrary. She
kissed me, and I was delighted. At Paris, she was to call for the little
one at a Madame Gerdy's, who lived on the Boulevard.
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