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PARTITION AND ADSORPTION
OF ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS
IN ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
PARTITION AND ADSORPTION
OF ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS
IN ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS

Cary T. Chiou

A JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC., PUBLICATION

Copyright © 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or
otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright
Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through
payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222
Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-750-4470, or on the web at
www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the
Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201)
748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, e-mail: [email protected].

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best
efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the
accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created
or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies
contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional
where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any
other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or
other damages.

For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care
Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993 or fax 317-572-
4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in
print, however, may not be available in electronic format.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Is Available

ISBN 0-471-23325-0

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS

Preface ix

1 Important Thermodynamic Properties 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 First Law of Thermodynamics 2
1.3 Second Law of Thermodynamics 3
1.4 Extensive and Intensive Properties 6
1.5 Chemical Potential 6
1.6 Chemical Potentials in Multiple Phases 7
1.7 Change in Chemical Potential with Pressure 8
1.8 Activity of a Substance 9
1.9 Vapor–Liquid and Vapor–Solid Equilibria 10

2 Fundamentals of the Solution Theory 14

2.1 Introduction 14
2.2 Raoult’s Law 14
2.3 Henry’s Law 18
2.4 Flory–Huggins Theory 19
2.5 Variation of Activity Coefficient with Concentration 21
2.6 Molar Heat of Solution 22
2.7 Cohesive Energy Density and Solubility Parameter 27

3 Interphase Partition Equations 30

3.1 Partition between Two Separate Phases 30
3.2 Partition between an Organic Solvent and Water 31
3.3 Partition between a Macromolecular Phase and Water 32
3.4 Temperature Dependence of Partition Coefficient 33
3.5 Concentration Dependence of Partition Coefficient 36

4 Fundamentals of the Adsorption Theory 39

4.1 Introduction 39
4.2 Langmuir Adsorption Isotherm 41
4.3 Freundlich Equation 43
4.4 BET Multilayer Adsorption Theory 43
v
vi CONTENTS

4.5 Polanyi Adsorption Potential Theory 45

4.6 Surface Areas of Solids 48
4.7 Isosteric Heat of Adsorption 50

5 Contaminant Partition and Bioconcentration 53

5.1 Introduction 53
5.2 Octanol–Water Systems 54
5.3 Heptane–Water Systems 59
5.4 Butanol–Water Systems 62
5.5 Substituent Contributions to Partition Coefficients 63
5.6 Lipid–Water Systems 68
5.6.1 Solubility of Solutes in Lipids 68
5.6.2 Lipid–Water Partition Coefficient 72
5.7 Correlations of Partition Coefficients 77
5.8 Bioconcentration of Organic Contaminants 80

6 Adsorption of Vapors on Minerals and Other Solids 86

6.1 Introduction 86
6.2 Nitrogen Isotherm and Solid Surface Area 86
6.3 Micropore Volume 90
6.4 Improper Surface-Area Measurement 92
6.5 Adsorption of Water and Organic Vapors 100

7 Contaminant Sorption to Soils and Natural Solids 106

7.1 Introduction 106
7.2 Background in Sorption Studies 107
7.2.1 Influences of Mineral Matter, Organic Matter, and
Water 107
7.2.2 Soils as a Dual Sorbent for Organic Compounds 109
7.3 Sorption from Water Solution 112
7.3.1 General Equilibrium Characteristics 112
7.3.2 Effect of Soil Organic Matter versus Sediment
Organic Matter 124
7.3.3 Effect of Contaminant Water Solubility 133
7.3.4 Behavior of PAHs versus Other Nonpolar
Contaminants 138
7.3.5 Estimation of Sorption Coefficients for Nonpolar
Contaminants 145
7.3.6 Sorption to Previously Contaminated Soils 146
7.3.7 Deviations from Linear Sorption Isotherms 149
7.3.8 Influence of Dissolved and Suspended Natural
Organic Matter 168
7.3.9 Influence of Surfactants and Microemulsions 178
 CONTENTS vii

7.4 Sorption from Organic Solvents 192

7.4.1 Effect of Solvent Polarity 192
7.4.2 Effects of Temperature, Moisture, and Contaminant
Polarity 195
7.5 Sorption from Vapor Phase 200
7.5.1 General Aspects of Vapor Sorption 200
7.5.2 Influence of Moisture on Vapor Sorption 203
7.6 Influence of Sorption on Contaminant Activity 210

8 Contaminant Uptake by Plants from Soil and Water 214

8.1 Introduction 214
8.2 Background in Plant-Uptake Studies 215
8.3 Theoretical Considerations 216
8.4 Uptake by Small Plant Roots from Water 220
8.5 Uptake by Plant Seedlings from Soil 223
8.6 Uptake by Root Crops from Different Soils 226
8.7 Effect of Plant Composition 228
8.8 Contaminant Levels in Aquatic Plants and Sediments 229
8.9 Time Dependence of Contaminants in Plants 231

Bibliography 235
Index 249
PREFACE

The concern for the presence of a wide variety of contaminants in the envi-
ronment calls for development and assemblage of information about their
behavioral characteristics so that appropriate strategies can be adopted to
either prevent or minimize their adverse impacts on human welfare and
natural resources. This information is especially warranted for toxic chemicals
that persist for extended periods of time in the environment. When chemicals
enter the environment, they are usually not confined to a specific location but
rather are in dynamic motion either within a medium or across the adjacent
media. The propensity for a contaminant to move into and distribute itself
between the media (or phases) is determined by its physical and chemical
properties and environmental factors and variables. The quantity of a con-
taminant in a given medium and the state of its existence affect its environ-
mental impact. It is therefore important to understand what drives a
contaminant from one medium to another and the manner and extent that a
contaminant associates with the different media or phases within a local envi-
ronmental system.
This book is essentially a monograph that depicts the processes by which
nonionic organic contaminants are sorbed to natural biotic and abiotic sub-
stances. The book focuses on physical principles and system parameters that
affect the contaminant uptake by soil from water, air, and other media, by fish
from water, and by plants from soil and water. Since contaminant uptake by
natural organic substances is often predominantly by a partition interaction,
the partition characteristics in several solvent–water model mixtures are
treated in some detail to elucidate the relevant physicochemical parameters.
When addressing these subjects, the author has relied heavily on the views
drawn from his published studies and on those derived from other supporting
literature sources. At the risk of appearing immodest, the author has made
no attempt to give equal weight to all views on the subject, preferring instead
to present a coherent point of view that accounts for many observed
contaminant-uptake phenomena. This book is intended to be a good starting
point for beginning researchers in the field who might otherwise have diffi-
culties in making sense of the often conflicting and confusing literature.
The book is written primarily for graduate students and beginning profes-
sionals in environmental science and engineering in the hope that it will facil-
itate their research on contaminant sorption to soils and biotic species. Senior
scientists may also find the discussion on certain aspects of the sorption
ix
x PREFACE

process to be beneficial. A great emphasis has been placed on the principles

underlying the contaminant sorption to these media and the related medium-
contaminant properties. Our intent is to derive from a range of laboratory and
field measurements some relatively simple views and rules that can guide us
toward a sufficiently accurate account of the activity and fate of contaminants
in the environment. In Chapters 1 through 4 of the book we provide requisite
backgrounds in thermodynamics and theories of solution and adsorption to
assist students and junior professionals to comprehend the discussion in sub-
sequent chapters on sorption-related thermodynamic properties. As we will
see in Chapters 5 through 8, nonionic contaminants are sorbed to natural sub-
stances usually either by a partition process (a solution phenomenon) or by
an adsorption process (a surface phenomenon), or by both in some situations.
It would not have been possible for the author to complete this book
without invaluable contributions of his co-workers at Oregon State Univer-
sity (Corvallis, Oregon) and the U.S. Geological Survey (Denver, Colorado)
and without the continuous inspiration of Professor Milton Manes, his former
research adviser at Kent State University (Kent, Ohio) and the co-author of
several research papers. The author thanks the National Institute of Environ-
mental Health Sciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the
National Science Foundation for their supports of his earlier research at
Oregon State University (1976–1983) and the U.S. Geological Survey for con-
tinuous support of his research (1983–date). The author is also indebted to the
encouragement from many of his colleagues to write this book and to their
assistance during the book’s preparation. Finally, the author thanks the U.S.
Geological Survey for the granting of official time to prepare the book and
for financial assistance in the drafting of the illustrative figures and graphs.

U.S. Geological Survey Cary T. Chiou

Denver, Colorado
February 2002
 Partition and Adsorption of Organic Contaminants in Environmental Systems. Cary T. Chiou
Copyright ¶ 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN: 0-471-23325-0

1 Important Thermodynamic
Properties

1.1 INTRODUCTION

In environmental systems, one is keenly interested in the transfer of a chem-

ical (contaminant) from one phase (or medium) to another and in the manner
it distributes itself between phases at equilibrium. In most cases, contaminants
are transported through mobile water or atmosphere into other natural biotic
or abiotic phases or media. Depending on the material properties of individ-
ual phases and on variable environmental factors, such as temperature and
humidity, the manner by which a contaminant is retained by individual natural
phases can vary widely. For most organic contaminants, particularly electri-
cally neutral species, the way a contaminant is retained by a biotic or abiotic
matter falls mainly into either or both of two categories: The contaminant
adheres only onto the surface of a natural material, or it dissolves into the
latter’s molecular network. Although these different modes of action are not
readily distinguishable to our eyes, they are consequential to the extent of con-
taminant uptake and to the activity and fate of the contaminant in its local
environment.
It is important to understand the terms system, phase, and medium as they
are referred to in the context above. A system is defined as a physical domain
enclosed by a real or imaginary boundary that separates it from its surround-
ings. The content of a system may be simple or complex, ranging from a single
vapor, liquid, or solid to a multicomponent and heterogeneous mixture of
considerable complexity. In heterogeneous systems, there exist molecularly
homogeneous regions, which we refer to as phases. Examples of phases in a
heterogeneous system are the organic solvent and water phases in their par-
tially miscible mixtures and the vapor and liquid phases of a volatile liquid in
a partially filled vessel or a subsurface space. The term medium is less precise
than the term phase, although they are sometimes used interchangeably. The
former refers to matter that is apparently uniform in its macroscopic appear-
ance but is not well characterized, such as a soil sample composed of many
finely divided mineral and organic phases or a plant-matter sample composed
of many constituents or phases (e.g., water, cellulose, and lipids) in its
composition.
Whether mass transfer occurs for any component across phases or the com-
ponent at the time is at equilibrium between phases at constant temperature
1
2 IMPORTANT THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES

and pressure (where there is no net exchange of mass) is governed by the

equality or inequality of its chemical potentials with the (various) phases. The
chemical potentials being referred to are the molar Gibbs free energies of
the component in individual phases. There is a natural tendency of a chemi-
cal to come to a state of equilibrium between all contacted phases, where the
chemical potential gradient across phase boundaries is zero. The chemical
potentials are derived from the first and second laws of thermodynamics. In
the derivation of Gibbs free energy, the reader will also be introduced to two
other important thermodynamic properties, enthalpy (heat) and entropy, by
which one can distinguish a surface process from a solution process, as shown
later. For a more detailed treatment of the thermodynamic quantities and their
relationships, the reader is directed to a physical chemistry textbook.

1.2 FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

The first law of thermodynamics is a consequence of the principle of conser-

vation of energy: that is, that heat, kinetic energy, potential energy, and elec-
trical energy are different forms of energy that can be interconverted but can
be neither created nor destroyed. Consider any system enclosed in a vessel
that can change its volume and exchange heat with its surroundings but is
impervious to the passage of matter. We postulate a property called the inter-
nal energy of the system, E. We will be concerned with the change in E and
not with its absolute value. If the system absorbs an amount of heat q with no
other changes, the conservation of energy requires that its internal energy
increase by the amount of q; conversely, the internal energy will decrease by
the amount of q if an amount of heat q is released to its surroundings. Simi-
larly, if the system does work w on its surroundings with no other changes, its
internal energy will decrease by the amount of w. If the system both exchanges
heat and does work, the change in internal energy is then

DE = q - w (1.1)

where q is here taken as positive for heat absorbed by the system and w as
positive for work done by the system. The first law also implies that E is a state
function: that its magnitude is solely dependent on its state variables (e.g., tem-
perature, pressure, and volume). For any series of processes that end with a
return to the original state variables, DE = 0.
For a constant-pressure system involving only the work of expansion and
contraction (i.e., no electrical work), w equals P DV, where P is the (constant)
pressure and DV is the (finite) change in volume. In this case, the change in E
is therefore

DE = q - P DV (1.2)
 SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS 3

If one defines a new state function, H, called enthalpy, as

H = E + PV (1.3)

then the change in H at constant pressure will be

DH = DE + P DV (1.4)

A comparison of Eqs. (1.2) with (1.4) leads to

DH = q for a constant-pressure process (1.5)

The enthalpy is therefore a useful state function for describing the heat
exchange at constant pressure.

1.3 SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

We first begin with the concept of a reversible process in thermodynamics. In

addition to the usual sense of a reversible process, the condition of thermo-
dynamic reversibility for any process is that it proceeds at all times infini-
tesimally close to equilibrium, so that its direction can be reversed by an
infinitesimally small change in one or more of the state variables. A close
approximation to a reversible process is the freezing of water in a vessel main-
tained below but very close to the equilibrium freezing point (which is 0°C at
1 atmosphere); the process can be reversed by raising the temperature very
slightly above the freezing point. Conversely, the freezing process of super-
cooled water can be carried out irreversibly by seeding it with an ice crystal.
In the reversible expansion of a gas against a resistance that is close to the
gas pressure at all times, the differential work is P dV and the overall work is
ÚP dV. By contrast, in the extreme case of the gas expanding into a vacuum,
the work is zero.
The most useful statement of the second law of thermodynamics is
described in terms of a state function called the entropy (S), which is a measure
of the degree of randomness or disorder in a system. For a system undergo-
ing a change in state, the change in entropy is such that

dS = dq T for an infinitesimal reversible process (1.6)

dS > dq T for an infinitesimal spontaneous process (1.7)

where T is the thermodynamic temperature [Kelvin (K)]. For a reversible

process, dq = T dS. By relating Eq. (1.6) to the first law, one finds for a
reversible process in a closed system that involves only the P–V work (i.e., no
electrical work) that
4 IMPORTANT THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES

dE = T dS - P dV (1.8)

For any other process, dq π T dS and dw π P dV. However, the difference

between T dS and P dV (i.e., dE) is a state function. Therefore, Eq. (1.8) holds
for all processes, whether or not reversible.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, the criterion for whether
a process is taking place reversibly (i.e., at equilibrium) or spontaneously
within a completely isolated system (i.e., the one at constant volume and inter-
nal energy) is given as

(dS)E, V ≥ 0 (1.9)

that is, the overall entropy change of the system is zero for an equilibrium
process but increases for a spontaneous process. The fact that (dS)E,V can never
be less than zero is a consequence of the second law.
Chemical processes of most interest usually take place at constant temper-
ature and pressure. A new criterion is therefore required to indicate whether
a process is reversible or spontaneous under this condition. If we now allow
a process to take place initially in an isolated system and then adjust the tem-
perature by reversible absorption (or emission) of heat and adjust the pres-
sure by reversible expansion (or contraction) at constant temperature, the
entropy change from the adjustment will be dq/T = (dE + P dV)/T. The change
in entropy of the system, which is no longer an isolated system, after this
adjustment will be

(dS)T , P = (dS)E, V + dE T + P dV T (1.10)

Substituting Eq. (1.9) into Eq. (1.10) gives

-T (dS)E, V = dE + P dV - T (dS)T , P £ 0 (1.11)

The quantities on both sides will therefore be negative for spontaneous

processes, zero for equilibrium processes, and never positive.
One can express the right side of Eq. (1.11) by defining a new state func-
tion, G, the Gibbs function or Gibbs free energy, as

G = E + PV - TS = H - TS (1.12)

At constant temperature and pressure, one gets

(dG)T, P = dE + P dV - T dS (1.13)

From Eqs. (1.11) and (1.13) the condition that

(dG)T, P £ 0 (1.14)
 SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS 5

becomes the criterion for any infinitesimal process within a closed system (i.e.,
where no mass transfer occurs across the system boundary) to take place at
equilibrium [i.e., (dG)T,P = 0] or spontaneously [i.e., (dG)T,P < 0] at constant
temperature and pressure. For a single-component system, dG is a function of
temperature and pressure (or volume). For a complex mixture, dG depends
also on the composition, as will be seen.
If a phase transition (e.g., from liquid to vapor) takes place in a closed
single-component system at constant T and P, the transition can thus be
carried out at equilibrium with any phase-mass ratio as long as both phases
coexist in finite amounts. In this case, dG/dl, or DG, is equal to 0, where DG
corresponds to a finite phase transition and l is the progress variable. In a
closed multicomponent system where a chemical reaction takes place or a
component distributes between phases at fixed T and P, usually only one com-
position can satisfy the condition for equilibrium (i.e., dG/dl = DG = 0).
For simple systems without mass and composition changes, one can thus
write

dE = T dS - P dV (1.8)

and

dG = T dS - P dV + P dV + V dP - T dS - S dT

or

dG = V dP - S dT (1.15)

In a closed system where a change in state or a chemical reaction takes

place at constant temperature, one finds from Eq. (1.12) an important relation
as follows:

DG = DH - T DS (1.16)

Thus, the reduction in free energy of a closed system at constant temperature

is favored by a decrease in system enthalpy or by an increase in system
entropy. However, chemical processes seldom occur with emission of heat (i.e.,
DH < 0) coupled with an increase in DS. In some special cases, the process may
proceed with DH = 0 and T DS > 0, such as the expansion and mixing of ideal
gases or the formation of an ideal solution, or with DH < 0 and T DS  0, such
as chemical reactions in which the moles of reactants equal the moles of prod-
ucts. Frequently, chemical processes occur with opposing effects of DH and T
DS, in which one outweighs the other.
To illustrate how either DH or T DS may act as the main driving force for a
spontaneous process, let us consider two physical processes, vaporization and
adsorption, at constant temperature in a closed system. When a fraction of a
liquid in excess quantity is being evaporated into a fixed vacuum space, the
6 IMPORTANT THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES

heat absorbed by the system to evaporate the liquid (i.e., DH > 0) increases
virtually linearly with the mass of liquid evaporated, whereas the rate of
increase in system entropy (i.e., DS > 0) is relatively large at first but decreases
as the vapor density increases. Here the unfavorable endothermic heat of
evaporation is outbalanced by the more favorable entropy increase until the
system reaches equilibrium, at which point DH = T DS and DG = 0. Conversely,
when a vapor is adsorbing onto a previously evacuated surface, the exother-
mic heat of adsorption (i.e., DH < 0) is relatively large initially but decreases
rapidly when more vapor is adsorbed (because the adsorption sites are usually
energetically heterogeneous, as discussed in Chapter 4). The system entropy
decreases (i.e., DS < 0) in a similar fashion but at a different rate. Thus the
system reaches equilibrium at some point, where DH = T DS and DG = 0. In
this case, the unfavorable entropy loss is outbalanced by the more favorable
decrease in enthalpy before the system reaches equilibrium.

1.4 EXTENSIVE AND INTENSIVE PROPERTIES

Extensive thermodynamic properties are those whose magnitudes are related

to the sizes (or the moles) of the chemical species present. Examples are

G, H, V, E, S or DG, DH, DV, DE, DS

Intensive properties are those whose magnitudes are not a function of their
sizes or masses. Examples are T, P, r (density), and the partial molar quanti-
ties of the extensive properties.
For any extensive property Y at constant T and P in a multiple-component
system, the differential change of the property is thus

dY = (∂ Y ∂ n1 ) dn1 + (∂ Y ∂ n2 ) dn2 + (∂ Y ∂ n3 ) dn3 + ◊ ◊ ◊ (1.17)

or

dY = Y1 dn1 + Y2 dn2 + Y3 dn3 + ◊ ◊ ◊ (1.18)

where the partial molar quantity, Yi , is an intensive thermodynamic property.

1.5 CHEMICAL POTENTIAL

The chemical potential of a substance in a phase serves as a measure of its

escaping tendency. We already know that when two phases in a system are at
equilibrium, they must be at the same T and P. When the transfer of a sub-
stance between two phases is allowed, an additional requirement for equilib-
rium is that the chemical potentials of the substance must be the same in the
 CHEMICAL POTENTIALS IN MULTIPLE PHASES 7

two phases. For a system involving a change in the quantity of its components,
due, for example, to chemical reactions or transfer of mass to and out of the
system, the previous differential equations are adjusted to take into account
the changes in the moles (n1, n2, n3, etc.) of individual components. By extend-
ing Eqs. (1.8) and (1.15), one now obtains

dE = T dS - P dV + (∂ E ∂ n1 )V, S, n j dn1 + ◊ ◊ ◊ + (∂ E ∂ nk )V, S, n j dnk (1.19)

and

dG = V dP - S dT + (∂ G ∂ n1 )T, P, n j dn1 + ◊ ◊ ◊ + ( ∂ G ∂ nk )T, P, n j dnk (1.20)

Thus, for a reversible process involving a change in individual-component

mass in a phase,

dE = T dS - P dV + Â m i dni (1.21)

and

dG = V dP - S dT + Â m i dni (1.22)

in which the chemical potential or the molar Gibbs function of component i

is defined as

m i = (∂ E ∂ ni )V, S, n j = (∂ G ∂ ni )T, P, n j (1.23)

Since the chemical potential of a substance is an intensive property, the dif-

ference in its values between regions in a phase or between phases of a system
determines the direction of mass transfer (from the one of higher potential to
the one of lower potential), just as the temperature gradient determines the
direction of heat flow. The usefulness of the chemical potential as a criterion
for equilibrium of a substance between phases is illustrated below.

1.6 CHEMICAL POTENTIALS IN MULTIPLE PHASES

Consider a closed system consisting of two separate phases, A and B, to which

an organic compound (solute) is added at constant temperature and pressure,
as shown in Figure 1.1. The solute i will then distribute itself between phases
A and B, to arrive eventually at some stable concentrations when the system
reaches the state of equilibrium. Here one may express the change in Gibbs
free energy of the entire system as

DGi = DGi,A + DGi,B or dGi = dGi,A + dGi,B (1.24)

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or moral. You feel that way. Your friend Clotilde loves in her way, and
she finds it beautiful, believe me."
"All the same! All the same, there is an almost general consent to
consider that love superior which is adorned with sentiment, and
does not consent to be short-lived."
"Yes; and this is in conformity with the morality which has ruled us
thus far. This morality is all delicacy. But, reduced to this degree of
purity, will it suffice to keep alive a struggle as ardent as the one
which we are now witnessing, for the possession of a part of the
outside of the world, or even for the supremacy of certain ideas? It
must concede provisionally a preponderance to material, mortal life,
since it is evident that the morality of the just will triumph only on
condition that it has force on its side. Do you follow me, my poor
friend? All this is very dry. But this is my way of telling you that these
crystalline sentiments, that are an 'ornament' in ordinary times,
become a luxury in our age of iron and fire. Luxury is no longer
permissible. The time has come when all refinements must give way
to a very stern reality. As you have been very well told: 'We are not
our own.' General consent? It should be given to the best good of
the cause which unites us all, and carries us all away with itself.
Forgive me, my very dear friend. I am going to commit a rudeness
which gives me pain—and you know that only the extremity of an
unheard-of calamity could bring me to that—yes, your sentiment,
with its persistence, is beautiful in itself, most beautiful; but we are
no longer at leisure to look at things 'in themselves.' Well, if your
friend Clotilde had lost her husband in your place and at the same
time, and if she were to-day the wife of another who had made her a
mother, for example, we ought really to hold her case in higher
esteem than yours!"
A sob choked Odette. They were walking along the Champs-
Elysées. She sought for a chair and sank upon it.
"I am not vexed with you," she said as soon as she could speak;
"something in my inmost being understands you— It has already
been said to me— But it is hard!"
"The time is exceptional."
 XXIX

Odette spent much of her time in consoling poor Rose. Her

husband's death had passed almost unnoticed. But other and very
dramatic deaths had also passed unnoticed. When men were
brought home in fragments it made a sensation, but once they were
dead the sad equality of the earth obscured their memory.
Indescribable episodes had attained such a character, and had
reached such numbers, that people hardly dared speak of them.
Minds were saturated and automatically closed against any new
sensation. Many were unable to endure any story of the war,
whether in the newspapers or in books. Odette recalled to mind the
impression which the wounded had formerly made. They were
already saying "formerly" when speaking of the present war! Now
there were wounded everywhere. It was rather the unscathed men
upon whom one looked as if to say to them: "See here, you! what
are you doing with your arms, with your legs?" Certain persons, with
a strong revulsion of the instinct of self-preservation, refused, like
Clotilde, even to think about the war; others, on the other hand,
buried themselves in it with passionate intensity.
Mme. de Blauve, who had become fond of Odette and
occasionally came to see her, now came to announce the marriage
of her eldest daughter. She told the news almost as if saying: "At
last!" as if it were the case of an old maid whom she had despaired
of marrying off. Mlle. de Blauve was barely sixteen, she was
attractive and endowed with much charm, had been most carefully
educated, and promised to be really beautiful. She was to marry a
wounded sublieutenant.
"Ah!" said Odette; "does she love him?"
"He is a young man of good family," said Mme. de Blauve, "and
he has behaved admirably."
 "But he will return to the front! You will be in perpetual anxiety!"
"Not that," replied Mme. de Blauve. "To be sure, my daughter
would have liked to be the wife of a soldier who remained a soldier,
like her father. But soldiers in active service will always find some
one to marry them, and wives must be found for those less favored,
who have been checked in their career——"
"Has her fiancé been retired?" asked Odette. "Don't tell me that
he is badly——"
"Oh, this is not the time to think about things that girls used to
care for; the question is to save our men by giving them wives, so
that they may be in a position to found a family. This young man is
from the devastated regions. He has lost all his family—some of
them have been shot, others have died during the occupation of the
enemy—and it is entirely impossible for him to earn a decent living.
We ourselves have sacrificed more blood than money; my daughter
will still have a certain amount of fortune, therefore——"
"But what is the matter with him? What has he lost?" asked
Odette, thinking only of that absolute union of two beings which had
illuminated her own life.
"Oh, it is very sad," said Mme. de Blauve; "my future son-in-law is
one of those most deserving of interest, who have received face
wounds. His face—how can I tell you?—lacks almost everything
except the passages that are necessary for eating and breathing
——"
Odette uttered an inarticulate exclamation and rang the bell. But
she did not faint until Mme. de Blauve was gone.

The case of Mlle. de Blauve evoked more criticism than

admiration. According to some it was absolutely too terrible and not
to be thought about. In most cases, however, sensitiveness had
been so dulled by the constant hearing of war-stories that very little
attention was paid to this act of superhuman devotion. Some said:
"The mother is crazy and the young girl does not realize what she is
doing. One may do violence to nature, or may dupe it for a short
time; this is a time when we ought to resolve upon any sacrifice,
even to throwing ourselves into the arms of death; but death is either
the end or the beginning of the unknown. The idea of marrying a
superb girl of sixteen to a man without a face!"
Yet every one knew that far from bringing pressure to bear upon
her daughter, Mme. de Blauve had made every possible effort to
prevent her marrying another wounded man, an unlucky fellow who,
approaching a trench with a grenade in each hand, had had both
eyes burned at the very moment when a bursting shell had set off
the two grenades and shattered both hands. What she was now
doing was a slight thing in comparison with the thing that she had
prevented.
Odette felt that she must know La Villaumer's opinion on this
matter. They had no regular engagement for meeting, and met only
by chance. She decided to go to his house shortly before the
luncheon hour. An old servant ushered her into a room where, to her
great surprise, she heard the tones of a harmonium mingled with a
man's voice entirely untrained. It proceeded from the neighboring
room, separated from her by a glass door partly screened by a
curtain of Chinese silk. The thing was so unusual and so puzzling
that she could not refrain from peeping around the edge of the
curtain. She saw at the instrument an organist whom she knew, and
standing beside him a man bereft of both arms, and the pose of
whose head was that of a blind man trying to catch the notes which
the teacher was patiently repeating. All around them were soldiers
wearing black glasses, with closed eyes or with bandaged faces, and
Villaumer in his dressing-gown coming and going among them. He
suddenly disappeared and came into the room where Odette was
standing.
"I have caught you!" said she. "Try now to convince me that what I
have been told of you is not true! You are no longer in your own
home!"
"My good friend," he replied, "I am having lessons given to the
most unfortunate of those unhappy ones whom evil fortune and
inaction are driving to despair. They are being taught the rudiments
of music; they are trying to sing; it occupies them."
"I knew that you were kind——"
"I am not kind; I am generally severe upon men. But the sight of
misfortune is intolerable to me; and for men like these, who have
been three-quarters destroyed for the sake of saving us, yes, I
confess that I could give my last shirt; I would wait upon them at
table— Will you take luncheon with us?"
Through the half-open door into the dining-room she could see a
table spread for twelve.
"Do you take lunch with them?" asked Odette.
"I permit myself that honor— It is my last self-indulgence. Well,
will you take advantage of it?"
"I cannot, my friend, I cannot. I should weep through the whole
meal. That is not what they need."
"No. One must have the courage to bestow upon them the gayety
—which we don't possess. Social hypocrisy has not been practised
all this time in vain, if it has taught this to some of us."
"I am ashamed of my weakness," said Odette. "I should not flinch
before any sort of wound, but the thought that the war has deprived
a man of the light of day forces me to ask myself whether I myself
have a right to look upon these beautiful silks, this sunlight——"
"Take pleasure in the silks, in objects of art, and in sunlight, you
who are made to charm that portion of humanity that remains intact.
You would not, on the pretext that millions of men have been
plunged into darkness or death, irritate them gratuitously by an ill-
regulated sympathy? Innumerable lives have, alas, been shattered,
but life remains, the light is brilliant, plants are growing, animals and
even men still swarm upon the earth. Recall to mind the tragic and
paradoxical truth that human life, which is the highest work and
appears to have been the purpose of the creation of the world, is that
for which, on the whole, that great work appears to care the least.
Whatever part man may be called to play, his destiny is to pass
away. That horror of war with which we are inspired by the
extermination of men is in the long run kept up and perpetuated by
material depredations; the memory of an illustrious building
destroyed will last longer than that of a hundred thousand young
men mown down in their youth."
"And meanwhile you are throwing overboard all you possess to
rescue men who are only half alive. That is all that I wanted to
know."

XXX

Odette spent several days in bed as a consequence of the

marriage of the little de Blauve girl—which took place in the strictest
privacy, and which she had not attended. But her imagination was
lively, and she pictured things to herself.
She sought out her friend La Villaumer, as it were, now that she
had detected him in an act of kindness. As for him, in her presence
he took less pains to conceal his acts, now that she understood him
better.
"I have always loved men," he said. "Why should I not love them
since I have always professed to criticise them? Have I
misunderstood them? Remember how indulgent I was for all that in
them is so far removed from the only thing that I really prize—
intelligence. How vulnerable I have been to their instincts! How I
have smiled at their innumerable follies! I simply enjoyed studying
them, without the slightest partiality, notwithstanding my secret
reverence for reason, which seems to me to be a torch lighted at the
altar of a god and carefully transmitted by certain privileged beings to
certain privileged beings, while yet the chain that they form never
succeeds—no one can tell why—in producing an illumination.
Therefore, I have never believed that the world belonged to what we
have learned to venerate under the name of intelligence. Intelligence
is a divine part which no doubt gives us notions of what there is on
high, but which has almost no application to things here below. The
world is not governed by intelligence. Sometimes intelligence makes
converts, and we believe that its reign has come. Illusion! It is
precisely then that we are upon the point of falling again into blessed
ignorance, and going back to the age of barbarism. Do you know, I
am tempted to believe that the age of barbarism is the normal period
of humanity! We probably need cruelty, absurdity, injustice,
superstition, torrents of bloodshed, in order that the mystery which
we admire under the name of life may exist and perpetuate itself.
Our bodies can be fed only by offensive means. The majority of
human pleasures are unfathomably stupid. The great masses obey
certain elementary formulas, sayings of which they have never
weighed the meaning, and which often have no meaning.
Governments are not carried on by luminous reasoning, but by the
allurement of sounding words that flatter the senses. In order to hold
our own in a large and influential social group, my poor friend, are
we going to be called to admit the timeliness of belief in prophets, in
wonder-workers, in ghosts, in the platitudes of 'apparitions,' in the
genius of simple minds? Is a torrent of puerility about to inundate the
surface of the globe? May it be that this is the indispensable element
of reparation? Intelligence, reduced to its own resources, has in fact
no power of expansion, no means of action. It is enough to make
one die of shame and vexation! Law, justice, liberty—we can imagine
men shrugging their shoulders when they hear the words, for the
words are efficacious only when they are emptied of their
significance and travestied into elementary ideas which naturally
lead to the violation of law, liberty, justice. In the matter of ideas men
believe only in their tutelary virtue; they are protecting divinities; and
the idea is nothing but a word that men symbolize on their flagstaffs,
like a fetich. We are as credulous as Homer's warriors. Minerva
fights with us. For that matter, I do not think that there ever was a
better opportunity for adopting the theocratic conception of the world,
for men are at this moment given over to the elements, and the
greatest political genius imaginable would probably be powerless so
long as the convulsions with which the world is attacked are not
quieted of themselves. In these conditions there is no room in the
home of a poor fellow for any but the virtues of pity and affection. I
confess the fact, my dear Odette, I can no longer control my heart."
"To be moved to compassion is to be weakened, I have been
told."
"There is truth in that opinion so far as those persons are
concerned who are more especially called by circumstances to act,
and especially to direct the actions of others; such must put on
blinders and look only to the immediate purpose which demands all
their energies. But it is desirable that in the midst of this tempest-
tossed world a few contemplative persons shall devote themselves
to pity as to the conservation of a 'precious blood'; if only for the sake
of the efficacy, or at least of the beauty of the thing. And the
worshippers at this altar will need to contend—do you know with
whom?—with humanity itself, which has little remembrance of its
own ills, and which, like a kitten, hastens to play with the first ray of
sunshine. It is true that the dead keep a great silence."

XXXI

Odette was at home one evening, and alone. Stretched out upon
a lounge, she was gazing at the photographs of Jean on little tables
or within her reach upon the walls, hypnotizing herself with the sight
of them, kissing them as she always did.
Amelia came in saying that the next apartment was "crammed
full."
"Madame, if there aren't twenty men six feet high in that room, my
own poor husband isn't a prisoner with the Boches!"
In fact there was a great commotion on the other side of the
partition. Furniture and chairs were being moved about, and as all
sounds penetrated through the cracks of the door, the syllables of an
unfamiliar language could be heard, perhaps Rumanian or Russian.
The neighbor was a foreigner.
Suddenly there was silence. Amelia had withdrawn. It was an
imposed, perhaps a concerted, silence. "It is a musical recital," said
Odette to herself. In fact she almost immediately recognized the
sprightly touch of the pianist, mellow, languishing, melting into the
keyboard as into a tender flesh, by turns nervous, light, cruel as a
hammer, heavy as a pile-driver, seeming to crush the instrument,
then suddenly soft, fluttering on the keys like the wing of a dying bird.
Though the woman often played for herself alone, this was not the
first time that many people had gathered around her to hear her
music.
A chorus of men's voices burst forth. It was strange, weird,
enough to make one catch one's breath. Odette listened. That
sensitiveness to music which often reached depths in her unknown
to herself, was suddenly wrought up to its utmost pitch. She did not
know the chorus, and sought in vain for an author to whom to
ascribe it. It might be a popular song, perhaps very ancient, to judge
by its artless simplicity, its pure rhythm, and its wild, sweet accent. At
times a soprano voice uprose in a solo, and the chorus, a third
below, responded softly in whisperings that grew nearer and nearer,
quickly spreading like oil upon the sea, or as if transmitted from man
to man over immense plains and endlessly flowing rivers. Suddenly
two or three raucous or strident cries gathered up all the voices to a
sharp point directed toward the heavens. Then all sound ceased,
and one felt as if falling from a superb altitude into the depths of an
abyss.
Then the fingers of the enchantress executed a ballad of
Balakireff, or Dvorak's hymn, "On the Death of a Hero." And then,
after a pause, another chorus broke forth.
There was in it all a melancholy which no words could so much as
suggest, in which amid the uniformly plaintive murmur one discerned
such lifelike wailings that one could have stretched out the hands to
succor these vague, unrecognized, and multiplied sufferings. They
swelled, spread abroad, took on so mighty an extension that in spite
of oneself one saw the surface of the suffering world, heard the
feeble and resigned voice of man, of man always the sport of fate,
always in leading-strings, always sacrificed like cattle to gods whose
secret he could not fathom. It was the lament of the ancient earth of
humanity, timid, uncouth, and despairing, issuing from bruised
hearts, from torn flesh, from souls robbed of their innocent ideals, a
disturbing lament issuing from the borders of marshes, from forests,
from glacial plains, from desert steppes, from nameless villages,
prisons, palaces, battlefields, tombs, and stoically, pathetically, and
yet childishly addressed to—no one!
Odette had often been on the verge of sentiments corresponding
to this music, primitive, barbarous, perhaps divine, but when music
comes to be mingled with our sentiments it reveals them to
themselves and amplifies them without measure. Odette saw what
she had never dared to see; for the first time she was transported
outside of herself, or at least she felt the conviction that she was. It
produced in her such an overturning of her points of view as almost
to make her dizzy. She suddenly discovered how completely she had
considered everything with reference to herself, even in her
seemingly most generous moments. At this instant she thought of
herself in relation to the incalculable number of persons who were
not she. It was not that the moans of humanity were now reaching
her for the first time, but it was the first time that the sobs of others
came to her ears with a tone of majestic sadness which forced her to
grovel upon the earth, saying: "I no longer count; I am only the
servant of grief."
It was a painful sentiment if there is one, and yet, by a curious
contradiction, a sentiment in the same degree joyful. A boundless
commiseration caused her heart to throb and tears to come to her
eyes, and yet this painful sympathy, far from being cruel or
depressing, wrought in her soul an unsuspected outflowering, like an
outburst of inconceivable elation in which was mingled bitterness
and pity.
There is no compensation for the personal suffering that we may
experience. On the contrary, in a close and complete union with the
sufferings of others is hidden a joy of mutual pain; an active desire to
give aid impels to the beginning of a helpful act, provokes to so
fervent a prayer for heavenly mercy that the heart no longer knows
whether it lies prone in utter distress or has attained to a radiant
phase of existence incomparably higher than its paltry estate as an
isolated being. The word "love" presents itself to a soul thus
irradiated without any sustaining form which might limit its character;
it is without extent as without form; as to the source that feeds it,
springing up no one knows where, one is convinced that there is no
fear that it will ever be exhausted.
Odette often wept, but to-day it was with other tears. She took up
one of Jean's photographs and found but one word to say to it:
"Forgive me!"
She understood neither what she felt nor what she was doing, but
she was conscious of failing Jean. Not of failing Jean in favor of
another, but for the sake of a multitude of others among whom no
one man could be discerned. When she was able to formulate a
thought, she said to herself: "I was pitying." She might have said:
"Charity has taken possession of me."

XXXII

There was no sign that any event had occurred that evening.
Odette had spent it alone in her little drawing-room. The chorus in
the next apartment was stilled. But that evening was made up of the
most important hours which the young wife had experienced since
the death of her husband.
Odette was aware that something had been revealed within
herself, but she was ill adapted to analyze herself, and the
phenomenon was still wrapped in mist. It had manifested its reality
only by a single act of hers—an act which she remembered, which
abode with her: the prayer for forgiveness addressed to the picture
of her beloved Jean. She returned continually to this material fact;
she had seized the photograph and had kissed it as if she had been
at fault. Thanks to this fact, the spiritual operations of which it was
the conclusion were not arrested, did not vanish like smoke, and
pursued her that night, on the morrow, and during the following days.
So sudden a burst of light might indeed have been ephemeral in
character. We are all subject, especially under an exterior influence
acting upon the senses, to similar spasms of enthusiasm, or to
dreams of a like generosity which may be only a passing impulse.
They die away and we return to a condition which we call
reasonable, that is to say, lucid, calm, well-balanced, and tame.
With Odette this illumination had not the character of a sudden
impulse, but was rather the outcome of a long and almost
unconscious preparation. How many words, how many tidings, how
many hints registered in her memory, how many puzzling
suggestions, how many dramatic scenes, how many ideas had been
as so many arrows of direction, guiding her toward the place where
she had received the divine spark! How many books read, how many
musings, apparently without result, had determined the direction that
had brought her here! Odette was like a clay which during two and a
half years had been continually receiving the touches of a thumb or
chisel, powerless to give her the form which an invisible artist
desired her to take, and the last touch, removing an encumbering bit,
had produced precisely the shape desired.
Odette awoke next morning in the same condition in which she
had fallen asleep, with the one difference that she no longer wept.
But the tears of the evening had had their sweetness. She found
herself in an almost grateful tranquillity. She went and came in the
midst of Jean's photographs, and Jean did not reproach her for her
new state of mind. His memory seemed to be in nowise outraged.
And yet Odette did not forget that she had begged his forgiveness,
as if it had been possible that she had failed him. This fact marked a
well-determined date in the perturbations of her soul. But it seemed
to her that she had received to her "Forgive me!" a gentle, calming
reply, a loving approbation.
 XXXIII

Yet the moment came when it seemed to her that she was losing
her reason. She had seen many cases of cerebral disturbance since
the war; they had been more or less apparent. Some persons of her
acquaintance had been duly shut up in insane asylums, but there
were many at large who showed the almost imperceptible wound by
which the microbe had penetrated.
By way of discovering whether or no she was mentally affected,
she imposed upon herself the test of behaving for a while like a
woman who has decided to lead the usual life until the end. She said
to herself: "I am not insane, for I think it requires more courage to
adopt, every day and every hour, the attitude of ordinary life, as if the
war did not exist—seeing that the majority of people who act thus
have been crushed or tortured by it—than to give oneself up to the
monster bound hand and foot. I am the less strong in not being able
to endure the commingling of both interests and throwing myself into
these horrors. I should be senseless if I deemed my own actions
alone to be good, beautiful, and worthy. But I am judging myself. I
am therefore not demented."
Out of curiosity she went one day to see Clotilde, still by way of
test. "To measure myself," she said to herself.
Clotilde's undue self-satisfaction made her friends really
uncomfortable, a discomfort which from the first they had sought to
hide or refused to recognize, which until now such a friend as Odette
had even refused to admit, but which to-day she could not endure.
Clotilde, surrounded by flowers, bathed in a perfumed atmosphere,
talked only of a change she had made in the decoration of her
rooms, of her clothes, or of matters so utterly foreign to current
events that it seemed as if for her the latter had no existence. She
never went out, lest she should be obliged to see or hear
disagreeable things, and yet never had she bought so many hats
and gowns as since the war. On her earlier visits Odette had slightly
shrugged her shoulders as if amused and not wholly displeased. By
degrees, the disproportion between such interests and the wound
with which the whole world was bleeding overmastered her ability to
make allowances.
Odette reminded her friend that she had not of late called upon
her for help, and asked if she had lost her blind man. Clotilde was
amazingly frank in her reply:
"My darling, 'my blind man,' as you call him, continues to exist and
to charm my husband. But what would you have? It is not that I am
lost to all sense of humanity, but you can imagine how the presence
of this man annoys me. He cannot see me, I am nothing to him, and
it is necessary for me to please——"
"But one may please even those who don't see us. One can try to
amuse these unfortunates, to make time pass pleasantly for them
——"
"You speak as if you possessed some gift in which I am lacking. It
is only that you like them, and know how to please them——"
"Oh!"
"You succeed in pleasing them! This man who visits us, with
whom you took lunch, is always asking for you. He never so much as
speaks of me. And yet it is I who permit him to come!"
"A man who cannot see you in your place at the head of the table,
and to whom you never give any proof that you are there, may
naturally forget you."
"You find it all right because he doesn't forget you. He dotes upon
you, by what George says; he asks for news of you, he longs to hear
your voice! He annoys me. In fact, child, it was precisely on your
account, I admit, that I was obliged to turn him away; he was falling
in love with you. Can you imagine it? You ought to thank me!"
"In love with me! If that were true I should be all the more sorry for
him, poor man! But he must have heard about me? He knows that I
am not to be had?"
"He hasn't gone as far as that; he only feels happy in your
company. When you are not there he misses you. That is all."
"Well, where is the love in that? He is like the wounded men
whom I have nursed; they were happy in my company; when I went
away, I suppose they missed me. If I had concluded from that that
they were in love with me——"
"You didn't conclude it, on your part, but as for them, what do you
know? Perhaps you broke their hearts!"
"You are romantic and think only of love! Men who have suffered
as they have, prefer to think of their own comfort, and of those who
make them comfortable. I knew a nurse seventy years old for whom
her patients clamored like children. Were they in love with her?"
"That proves nothing. A blind man feels very clearly whether the
woman near him is one who charms."
"Then he ought also to feel the compassion that he inspires, and
that does not lead to love."
"Are you uncomfortable in the presence of a blind man?"
"It is an undefinable emotion; my head turns. I lose my self-
command."
"You didn't seem to, here."
"One does almost involuntarily the thing that costs the most, if one
is determined to comfort those whose misfortunes arouse your
emotions."
And they talked of other things.

XXXIV
 Odette would no doubt have forgotten "her" blind man if a visit
which Mme. de Blauve paid her had not recalled him to mind in the
most unexpected manner.
Mme. de Blauve, whose calmness had always impressed every
one, from the time when she was living under the bombardment of
Rheims through the days in which she had made the sacrifice of her
husband, her two sons, and, one may say, her daughter, now
appeared unnerved. She had grown thin; her eyes were sunken; she
was evidently suffering.
With her habitual resolution she opened to Odette the purpose of
her visit. She had heard—it was rumored—that her dear friend,
having amply and worthily overpassed the period of her widowhood,
was purposing—not by inclination, but in order to accomplish a great
act of charity—to become the wife of a blinded officer. People were
talking about it. She herself had been extremely moved by the news,
and all the more because she feared that she had incurred a certain
responsibility in the matter, having probably been one of the first to
urge upon the young widow the duty of a second marriage.
Odette was amazed. What were people about? Never had she
had the slightest idea of such a thing. Startled at first, she went on,
almost laughing, to hear what Mme. de Blauve had to say.
"It is untrue, you say," said Mme. de Blauve; "but, my little friend,
experience has taught me that there is always a grain of truth at the
bottom of a wide-spread rumor. Whether good or bad, such plants do
not grow out of nothing."
Odette told her upon how slight a fact this rumor might possibly
have been based. She had lunched at Clotilde Avvogade's with a
blinded officer, and Clotilde insisted that she had pleased him.
"Nothing more would be needed!" said Mme. de Blauve, "and your
friend has probably told the story all around. It must be so, for I have
heard the name of the man, the institution where he has been re-
educated; I even know all about his circumstances; he is a widower
without fortune of any sort, and father of two little children about
whom he feels great anxiety."
 "Well," said Odette, "for my part I knew nothing of these last
particulars, and this is surely a proof that my romance has not gone
very far."
Mme. de Blauve was lost in apologies. Nevertheless, she did not
go so far as to regret the step she had taken. If it proved to have no
reason in the present case, an analogous case might arise; she
knew Odette's susceptibility, the noble impulses of her soul, and it
was her duty to warn her against impressions and impulses——
"What!" interrupted Odette; "you, madame, whose daughter——"
"Yes, yes, precisely I, 'whose daughter'—It is because my
daughter has made a marriage—beautiful, surely, from the moral
point of view, but, after all, a marriage—how shall I say it—somewhat
daring, that I believe myself to be authorized to say to you: 'My very
dear child, be careful, reflect!' Understand me; I regret nothing that
has occurred; I congratulate myself on the happiness which my
daughter is assuring to a victim of the war, who is a hundred times
deserving of it. Let me tell you, by way of parenthesis, that my
daughter has hope of a child, and I trust that God will bring
everything out right, although——"
"Although," repeated Odette anxiously.
"Although—oh, the dear child is lacking neither in love nor in
admiration for her husband, who is a hero; but our poor human
nature has strange revulsions—I tell you, you alone, in confidence;
since my daughter has reason for hope of becoming a mother, she
feels—alas! it is frightful, let me whisper it to you—she feels a sort of
apprehension at the sight of her husband, whose terrible affliction
you know of!— We must, at all costs, prevent her husband having
the slightest suspicion of the—temporary—feeling that he inspires,
and the young wife is obliged to put the strongest restraint upon
herself in order to show nothing. Just how far this incessant
constraint is consistent with the happy maintenance of her condition,
and with hope for its normal outcome, who shall say? This is what
we are asking ourselves, this is our anxiety."
"Oh, dear, dear madame, how sorry I am for you!"
 "You understand that I would not wish to have to be sorry for you,
in my turn, for a reason like this. It was to avoid it that I came here,
as much humiliated by my apprehensions as I was proud on the day
of the marriage. You have no plan of the sort, you tell me, my child?
So much the better! But I have become excessively apprehensive; I
am afraid of characters like yours, which may be inclined to do too
well. Sometimes a little pride enters into the good or the noble things
that we do. Do you understand?"

XXXV

Mme. de Blauve had taken her leave with these words, and
Odette, still breathless at the thought that there could be any
question of her marrying, a little ruffled, even, remembered only the
secret discomfiture confessed to by the mother of the poor little
bride. It was one more cause of horror added to all those of which
she was the daily witness. Her calamity had doubtless shaken Mme.
de Blauve's spirit to the point of causing in her mind a sort of
hallucination as to the fate which might be threatening the young
widow. Or else Mme. de Blauve had made the most of slight rumors
with no basis of truth, as a pretext for coming to confess her own
anxiety. Or else—a conjecture which barely touched Odette's mind—
Mme. de Blauve, as she had herself intimated, always erring through
pride, felt a frightful satisfaction in the dangers with which she and
her family were perpetually menaced, jealously guarding this bitter
eminence, lest it might be seized upon by others! For one can come
even to such a point.
What analogy could there be between the marriage of the little de
Blauve girl, an ignorant child, with one of the most horribly mutilated
of soldiers, and an imaginary marriage between her, Odette, who
was going on to her thirtieth year, with a blinded man who was not
disfigured? Young girls, women, were marrying blinded men every
day; many more of them would do so, one must hope! The case
might indeed be peculiarly delicate for her, a widow still in love with
her husband, and who was peculiarly sensitive to blindness; but if
the case ever occurred it was she alone who had the right to judge of
it. No one knew either the lasting nature of her grief or her personal
repugnances; the matter in no slightest degree deserved attention.
In fact, at the point that Odette had reached, she could imagine no
limit to devotion. In the marriages now in question, there was no
mention of anything that had formerly been called happiness; the
only thought was of kindliness toward most deserving beings who
were suffering under the greatest of misfortunes, and the greater
their misfortune, the greater, it appeared, ought to be the pleasure of
alleviating it. She did not approve of Mme. de Blauve, if it was she
who had urged her daughter to a marriage of charity, but she could
perfectly understand the daughter's having made such a marriage. If
a temporary check now and then occurred, it was due to a
pathological condition which would eventually cease. She recalled to
mind one of her friends, a perfectly well-balanced girl, married to a
very fine man whom she adored, who had taken a dislike to her
husband during the whole period of her pregnancy, without in the
least knowing why.
A few days later Odette received a letter from Mme. de Calouas,
still in Surville, alluding to the prospect of her marriage to a blinded
officer. So the utterly unfounded rumor had made its way to the
depths of Normandy! And Mme. de Calouas, who was wisdom itself,
and utterly removed from any suggestion that might have acted upon
Mme. de Blauve, wrote to her as Mme. de Blauve had spoken: "Yes,
dear friend, marry; I have never concealed from you that it is almost
your duty. But beware of an excess of zeal! Take care not to
undertake more than a woman of your temperament, brought up as
you have been, attached to a beloved memory as you still are, will
be able to endure. Remember that many of us can be heroic for a
few seconds, a few hours, a few days, but that is very different from
a whole lifetime."
Odette smiled, not only at the thought of what people were
thinking of her, but at the solicitude which they expressed for her,
and that sort of obsession for heroic acts which every one seemed to
cherish. Odette had not the slightest intention of performing a heroic
act. Nothing in her character had ever inclined her in that direction.
Her heart was made for loving. She loved, she was sure that she
loved. The one whom she loved was her husband—her Jean. She
could ill analyze the character of the tenderness which at the same
time she felt for every suffering creature on earth. And that was all.
What would they have of her?

XXXVI

Nevertheless she continued to be disturbed by the strange rumor

which had been set afloat, which was still afloat, and she promised
herself to speak about it to Clotilde, who without doubt had been the
cause of its diffusion.
On drawing near to the house in which Clotilde lived, she met
Lieutenant Avvogade guiding his blinded man by the arm. She had
not so much as thought of avoiding such an encounter.
When the blind man recognized Odette's voice his whole face
was transfigured. He turned pale; he hardly had courage to speak.
But she felt the effort with which his closed eyelids were directed
toward the point in space from which her voice had come; her
perfume had been wafted to him. This blinded man was looking at
her, was seeing her in his imagination; perhaps he was seeing her
much more beautiful, more alluring, than he had dreamed! He had
been disturbed because opportunities to be with her had no longer
been afforded him, and he did not know that it was not she herself
who had prevented them. But an inward instinct, stronger than he
had yet known, filled him with ecstasy in that moment of the young
woman's presence. He inhaled her like a flower, he listened to her,
was saturated with her. Believing himself to be behind the veil which
hid the daylight from him, as behind a screen, he neglected to keep
a watch on himself, to impose constraint upon himself. His emotion
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