Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/98

74 step-mother persisted in suspecting one or another of the Roselanders, poor Blandine felt grievous scruples. In refusing to reveal the name of the real culprit, was she not exposing those brave chaps to being troubled if not to being found perhaps guilty? Fortunately, it was easy for all of them to prove their perfect innocence.

The worthy fellows were extremely sorry for her misadventure, especially the one who had offered to see her home, and who blamed himself now for not having accompanied her in spite of herself.

Sometimes the high-minded child cherished a desire to start and seek out the man who had dishonoured her, and who dared not make reparation, not only because he had committed a crime in the eyes of men, but because in the opinion of the public the condition of a bastard and of an unwedded mother would be better than that of the legal son and the lawful companion of a thief and a vagabond. Blandine, more and more elevated in spirit, felt herself strong enough to go in the teeth of any unjust convention, whether religious or social. Since that fatal day of Saints Peter and Paul her heart had vowed itself to a stern and