"No," said Diard, "I did not know until now which of them you preferred." "But neither of them have ever given me a moment's uneasiness," she answered quickly. "But one of them gives you greater joys," he said, more quickly still. "I never counted them," she said. "How false you women are!" cried Diard. "Will you dare to say that Juan is not the child of your heart?" "If that were so," she said, with dignity, "do you think it a misfortune?" "You have never loved me. If you had chosen, I would have conquered worlds for your sake. You know all that I have struggled to do in life, supported by the hope of pleasing you. Ah! if you had only loved me!" "A woman who loves," said Juana, "likes to live in solitude, far from the world, and that is what we are doing." "I know, Juana, that _you_ are never in the wrong." The words were said bitterly, and cast, for the rest of their lives together, a coldness between them. On the morrow of that fatal day Diard went back to his old companions and found distractions for his mind in play. Unfortunately, he won much money, and continued playing. Little by little, he returned to the dissipated life he had formerly lived. Soon he ceased even to dine in his own home. Some months went by in the enjoyment of this new independence; he was determined to preserve it, and in order to do so he separated himself from his wife, giving her the large apartments and lodging himself in the entresol. By the end of the year Diard and Juana only saw each other in the morning at breakfast. Like all gamblers, he had his alternations of loss and gain. Not wishing to cut into the capital of his fortune, he felt the necessity of withdrawing from his wife the management of their income; and the day came when he took from her all she had hitherto freely disposed of for the household benefit, giving her instead a monthly stipend. The conversation they had on this subject was the last of their married intercourse. The silence that fell between them was a true divorce; Juana comprehended that from henceforth she was only a mother, and she was glad, not seeking for the causes of this evil. For such an event is a great evil. Children are conjointly one with husband and wife in