"She did not conceal from me that
she was surprised and that she could not look upon me as a practical man;
indeed, I may say, she appeared to regard me with marked antipathy. She
sent for her sister, and begged her to take our daughter and keep her from
me, as she did not consider me practical enough-I will substitute for her
more embittered expressions--to provide for a child and instruct it in the
world's ways. My sister-in-law, who was childless, consented to adopt the
little one, on the conditions that I renounced all claim, and that the
child legally assumed her name and should be in all respects as her own
daughter, and that I consented to see her but once a year, in Rouen, at my
brother-in-law's home.
"I should have refused, but I--my wife--that is--she was--very pressing--
in her last hours, and they all seemed to feel that I ought to make
amends--all except the little girl herself, I should say, for she
possessed, even as an infant, an exceptional affection for her father. I
had nothing; my salary was gone, and I was discomfited by the combined
actions of the trustees and my relatives, so--I--I gave her up to them,
and my wife passed away in a more cheerful frame of mind, I think. That is
about all. One of the instructors obtained the position here for me, which
I--I finally--lost, and I went to See the little girl every New Year's
day.
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