She wished to return at once to her
father's home, and to take little Gervaise with her. Madame
Dupont cried out in horror at this proposition, and argued and
pleaded and wept--but all to no purpose. The girl was immovable.
She would not stay under her husband's roof, and she would take
her child with her. It was her right, and no one could refuse
her.
The infant had been crying for hours, but that made no
difference. Henriette insisted that a cab should be called at
once.
So she went back to the home of Monsieur Loches and told him the
hideous story. Never before in her life had she discussed such
subjects with any one, but now in her agitation she told her
father all. As George had declared to the doctor, Monsieur
Loches was a person of violent temper; at this revelation, at the
sight of his daughter's agony, he was almost beside himself. His
face turned purple, the veins stood out on his forehead; a
trembling seized him. He declared that he would kill George--
there was nothing else to do. Such a scoundrel should not be
permitted to live.
The effort which Henriette had to make to restrain him had a
calming effect upon herself. Bitter and indignant as she was,
she did not want George to be killed. She clung to her father,
beseeching him to promise her that he would not do such a thing;
and all that day and evening she watched him, unwilling to let
him out of her sight.
There was a matter which claimed her immediate attention, and
which helped to withdraw them from the contemplation of their own
sufferings.
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