he added in a moment, shaking his head with a world of harmless
bitterness, »that she comes honestly by it. Her mother was one before her!«
    »You were not happy with your wife?« Newman asked.
    M. Nioche gave half-a-dozen little backward jerks of his head. »She was my
purgatory, monsieur!«
    »She deceived you?«
    »Under my nose, year after year. I was too stupid, and the temptation was
too great. But I found her out at last. I have only been once in my life a man
to be afraid of; I know it very well: it was in that hour! Nevertheless I don't
like to think of it. I loved her - I can't tell you how much. She was a bad
woman.«
    »She is not living?«
    »She has gone to her account.«
    »Her influence on your daughter, then,« said Newman encouragingly, »is not
to be feared.«
    »She cared no more for her daughter than for the sole of her shoe! But
Noémie has no need of influence. She is sufficient to herself. She is stronger
than I.«
    »She doesn't obey you, eh?«
    »She can't obey, monsieur, since I don't command. What would be the use? It
would only irritate her and drive her to some coup de tête. She is very clever,
like her mother; she would waste no time about it. As a child - when I was
happy, or supposed I was - she studied drawing and painting with first-class
professors, and they assured me she had a talent. I was delighted to believe it,
and when I went into society I used to carry her pictures with me in a portfolio
and hand them round to the company. I remember, once, a lady thought I was
offering them for sale, and I took it very ill. We don't know what we may come
to! Then came my dark days, and my explosion with Madame Nioche. Noémie had no
more twenty-franc lessons; but in the course of time, when she grew older, and
it became highly expedient that she should do something that would help to keep
us alive, she bethought herself of her palette and brushes. Some of our friends
in the quartier pronounced the idea fantastic; they recommended her to try
bonnet-making, to get a situation in a shop, or - if she was more ambitious - to