Félicie took no notice of the criticism, merely remarking, with a sigh:
“Without Rose-Marie we shall have a great deal to do, and I only hope my other duties will not suffer. I shall draw up a little paper and arrange my time. Poor Rose-Marie! What a grief for her!”
“For her! A servant! Do you understand what lies before us—us Beaudrillarts?”
Claire’s tone was tense and sharp. Félicie sighed again and cried a little, taking care not to drop a tear upon her work. She had charge of the ecclesiastical vestments of the parish, and was almost as proud of them as of the Beaudrillart blood.
The next day all was joy at Poissy. Léon wrote briefly, merely saying that he had managed to raise the full sum of money by a loan. He would thus be able to consolidate his debts, and have one creditor in place of many.
“It is true,”—this was what he wrote—“that the loan must be repaid, but for this purpose look forward, dear mother, to a change in all my habits. I am going to renounce wandering, and to spend my time at Poissy, cease to play the fool, farm, economise, reform—Heaven knows what admirable paths do not stretch themselves before me! You will make them so charming that I shall not regret Paris, and I shall be so changed that you will forget your troublesome son, and fall in love with a new, a whitewashed, Léon, at whom, if only the past is merciful, no one will dare fling a stone.”
“Ah, my dear one!” cried Mme. de Beaudrillart, passionately kissing the letter.
“Tell Félicie I mean to redeem my promise, and she shall have a hundred francs instead of fifty for her do—” If he had been going to write dolls, he scratched out the irreverent word and substituted “decorations. I return to-morrow, or so I hope; but, come what may, rejoice, dear mother, that Poissy is spared to us.”
If there were one or two slightly enigmatical expressions in his letter, the mother did not notice them; nor even to her daughters did she show outward signs of exultation. She announced the change to them by saying, calmly:
“It is as I expected: Léon has arranged matters; but we must still economise strictly.”