"
The settlement of Hector's affairs was very laborious. Creditors
sprung up at every step, on every side, and the list of them seemed
never to be finished. Some had even come from foreign lands.
Several of them had been already paid, but their receipts could not
be found, and they were clamorous. Others, whose demands had been
refused as exorbitant, threatened to go to law, hoping to frighten
Sauvresy into paying. Sauvresy wearied his friend by his incessant
activity. Every two or three days he went to Paris, and he attended
the sales of the property in Burgundy and Orleans. The count at
last detested and hated him; Sauvresy's happy, cheerful air annoyed
him; jealousy stung him. One thought--that a wretched one--
consoled him a little. "Sauvresy's happiness," said he to himself,
"is owing to his imbecility. He thinks his wife dead in love with
him, whereas she can't bear him."
Bertha had, indeed, permitted Hector to perceive her aversion to
her husband. She no longer studied the emotions of her heart; she
loved Tremorel, and confessed it to herself. In her eyes he realized
the ideal of her dreams. At the same time she was exasperated to
see in him no signs of love for her.
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