Charlotte’s Inheritance

In his love for the woman he had chosen Gustave Lenoble never wavered. He worked for her, he endured for her, he hoped against hope for her sake; and it was only when bodily strength failed that this nameless foot-soldier began to droop and falter in life’s bitter battle. Things had gone ill with him. He had tried his fate as an advocate in Paris, in Caen, in Rouen–but clients would not come. He had been a clerk, now in one counting-house, now in another, and Susan and he had existed somehow during the seven years of their married life.