“We must let mother know,” he said. “You tell her, dear, since you are playing Providence to me to-day.”
“Very well,” answered Paule. “I will tell her presently.”
Later in the evening, Madame Guibert, having heard her daughter’s news, was silent for a long time.
“Is this happiness for us?” she murmured at last.
“She is very nice,” said Paule.
And the old lady added, “May she make him happy! I would rather have had her not so rich and with more strength of character. But since he loves her, we must love her too. Let us pray for them.”
She never thought for a moment that her son might be refused.
CHAPTER VI
MONSIEUR AND MADAME DULAURENS
Every morning Alice Dulaurens said to herself that she would spend the day inducing her parents to give their consent to this marriage of which the thought alone filled her with happiness; and every evening, having said nothing, she waited for the next day. But she soon had to make up her mind, for her friend Paule informed her of the date on which the definite offer was to be made.
On the eve of Madame Guibert’s visit she had still said nothing. Feeling anxious, she was late in going to sleep and got up very early, thinking to gain time. The hours sped rapidly, and her love-stricken heart trembled. She watched first her father and then her mother, in order to get one aside to listen to her request, and like all timid people she never found the right moment.