MME. B. Yes, he agreed. He’s reasonable and sensible, and he saw the force of my arguments. He saw that this parting, though it will be painful, was an absolute necessity. He will certainly suffer; but they are both so young. At that age love troubles don’t last.
LUCIE. I understand. In a week your son will have forgotten all about it. But Annette—
MME. B. She will soon forget it, too.
LUCIE. I don’t know—I don’t know. Oh, my poor darling! If you had seen her just now when she came to tell me about it! It’s not for joy she will cry now. Oh!—[she begins to cry].
MME. B [moved] Don’t cry—oh, don’t cry. I assure you I am most deeply sorry. Oh, if it were only possible, how happy it would make me that my boy should marry Annette. The girl he is engaged to is an affected little thing who annoys me, and I really love your sister.
LUCIE. But if that is true you can afford to let your son marry a girl without fortune.
MME. B. No: we’re not so well off as people think. There’s Gabrielle to be provided for. There will be next to nothing left for Jacques.
LUCIE. But he might work.
MME. B. He has not been brought up to that.