Produced by David WidgerCONSCIENCEBy Hector MalotWith a Preface by EDOUARD PAILLERON of the French AcademyHECTOR MALOTHECTORHENRI MALOT the son of a notary public was born at La BrouilleSeineInferieure March 20 1830 He studied law intending to devotehimself also to the Notariat but toward 1853 or 1854 commenced writingfor various small journals Somewhat later he assisted in compiling theBiographie Generale of Firmin Didot and was also a contributor tosome reviews Under the generic title of Les Victimes dAmour he madehis debut with the following three familyromances Les Amants 1859Les Epoux 1865 and Les Enfants 1866 About the same period hepublished a book La Vie Moderne en Angleterre Malot has writtenquite a number of novels of which the greatest is Conscience crownedby the French Academy in 1878His works have met with great success in all countries They possessthat lasting interest which attends all work based on keen observationand masterly analysis of the secret motives of human actionsThe titles of his writings run as follows Les Amours de Jacques1868 Un Beau Frere 1869 Romain Kalbris 1864 being a romancefor children Une Bonne Afaire and Madame Obernin 1870 Un Cure deProvince 1872 Un Mariage sons le Second Empire 1873 Une BelleMere 1874 LAuberge du Monde 18751876 4 vols Les Bataillesdu Mariage 1877 3 vols Cara 1877 Le Docteur Claude 1879 LeBoheme Tapageuse 1880 3 vols Pompon and Une Femme dArgent 1881La Petite Soeur and Les Millions Honteux 1882 Les Besogneux andPaulette 1883 Marichette and Micheline 1884 Le LieutenantBonnet and Sang Bleu 1885 Baccara and Zyte 1886 Viceo FrancisSeduction and Ghislaine 1887 Mondaine 1888 Mariage Riche andJustice 1889 Mere 1890 Anie 1891 Complices 1892 Conscience1893 and Amours de Jeunes et Amours de Vieux 1894About this time Hector Malot resolved not to write fiction any moreHe announced this determination in a card published in the journal LeTemps May 25 1895It was then maliciously stated that M Malot hisretired from business after having accumulated a fortune However hetook up his pen again and published a history of his literary lifeLe Roman de mes Romans 1896 besides two volumes of fiction LAmourdominateur 1896 and Pages choisies 1898 works which showed thatin the language of Holy Writ his eye was not dimmed nor his naturalforce abated and afforded him a triumph over his slanderers                  EDOUARD PAILLERON               de lAcademie FrancaiseCONSCIENCEBOOK 1CHAPTER I THE REUNIONWhen Crozat the Bohemian escaped from poverty by a good marriage thatmade him a citizen of the Rue de Vaugirard he did not break with hisold comrades instead of shunning them or keeping them at a distancehe took pleasure in gathering them about him glad to open his house tothem the comforts of which were very different from the attic of theRue Ganneron that he had occupied for so long a timeEvery Wednesday from four to seven oclock he had a reunion at hishouse the Hotel des Medicis and it was a holiday for which his friendsprepared themselves When a new idea occurred to one of the habitues itwas caressed matured studied in solitude in order to be presented infull bloom at the assemblyCrozats reception of his friends was pleasing simple like the mancordial on the part of the husband as well as on the part of the wifewho having been an actress held to the religion of comradeship On atable were small pitchers of beer and glasses within reach was an oldstone jar from Beauvais full of tobacco The beer was good the tobaccodry and the glasses were never emptyAnd it was not silly subjects that were discussed here worldlybabblings or gossiping about absent friends but the great questionsthat ruled humanity philosophy politics society and religionFormed at first of friends or at least of comrades who had worked andsuffered together these reunions had enlarged gradually until one daythe rooms at the Hotel des Medicis became a parlotte where preachersof ideas and of new religions thinkers reformers apostlespoliticians aesthetes and even babblers in search of ears more or lesscomplaisant that would listen to them met together Any one might comewho wished and if one did not enter there exactly as one would enter anordinary hotel it was sufficient to be brought by an habitue in orderto have the right to a pipe some beer and to speakOne of the habitues Brigard was a species of apostle who had acquiredcelebrity by practising in his daily life the ideas that he professedand preached Comte de Brigard by birth he began by renouncing histitle which made him a vassal of the respect of men and of socialconventions an instructor of law he could easily have made a thousandor twelve hundred francs a month but he arranged the number and theprice of his lessons so that each day brought him only ten francs inorder that he might not be a slave to money living with a woman whom heloved he had always insisted although he had two daughters onliving with her en union libre and in not acknowledging his childrenlegally because the law debased the ties which attached him to them andlessened his duties it was conscience that sanctioned these duties andnature like conscience made him the most faithful of lovers the bestthe most affectionate the most tender of fathers Tall proud carryingin his person and manners the native elegance of his race he dressedlike the porter at the corner only replacing the blue velvet bychestnut velvet a less frivolous color Living in Clamart for twentyyears he always came to Paris on foot and the only concessions that hemade to conventionality or to his comfort were to wear sabots in winterand to carry his vest on his arm in summerThus organized he must have disciples and he sought themeverywherein the streets where he buttonholed those he was able tosnatch under the trees of the Luxembourg Gardens and on Wednesdayat the house of his old comrade Crozat How many he had