IV
THE NEW LIFE
At the end of May, Elizabeth left Grenoble to settle in the old house at Saint Martin. Her daughter, a little anæmic and nervous, needed a change of air, and the doctor advised the mountains. She asked her parents, not without a secret mental reservation, to accept her hospitality. M. Molay-Norrois refused her invitation.
"We will go to Uriage in the great heat, of course. But in the middle of winter!"
"The middle of winter, Father? It is spring, and to-morrow it will be summer."
"Well, you must not count on me."
As he appreciated the country only if he could enjoy city pleasures there, with a great deal of social intercourse, he would wait until the hotels of the little watering place were filled. After this refusal, Elizabeth begged Mme. Derize to accompany her.
"You," she said to her, "will be our hostess. I had made up my mind to accept nothing more from Albert, and the property of Saint-Martin belongs to him. Marie Louise's illness necessitates our going. When you are up there with me I shall have no such scruples."
"Why have them? Albert has only one hearth, yours. He owes you his assistance."
"I refuse it. Do you not understand?"
"No, a father has the care of his children. This separation causes me so much pain. As much as to you. He cannot realize it himself."