Mme. de Céran. I take away his position from him to-night.
Duchess. So you want to make your son the leader of a school?
Mme. de Céran. It’ll be another stepping-stone, you know, Aunt.
Duchess. You have brought him up to be a mere chess-pawn, haven’t you?
Mme. de Céran. I have made of him a serious-minded man, Aunt.
Duchess. Yes, I should think so! A man of twenty-eight, who has never—done a foolish thing in his life, I’ll wager! It’s a perfect shame!
Mme. de Céran. At thirty he will enter the Institute, and at thirty-five the Chamber of Deputies.
Duchess. So you want to begin again with your son, and do with him as you did with his father?
Mme. de Céran. Did I make so miserable a failure of him?
Duchess. I say nothing about your husband: a dryasdust creature, with a mediocre intellect—!