“Then, cannot you see what will come of this mad freak?” he asked at last.
But the aged Princess had suddenly risen, and stood looking steadily at the Duchess, the younger woman flushed, and her eyes fell. Mme de Chauvry gently drew her closer, and said, “My little angel, let me kiss you!”
She kissed her niece very affectionately on the forehead, and continued smiling, while she held her hand in a tight clasp.
“We are not under the Valois now, dear child. You have compromised your husband and your position. Still, we will arrange to make everything right.”
“But, dear aunt, I do not wish to make it right at all. It is my wish that all Paris should say that I was with M. de Montriveau this morning. If you destroy that belief, however ill grounded it may be, you will do me a singular disservice.”
“Do you really wish to ruin yourself, child, and to grieve your family?”
“My family, father, unintentionally condemned me to irreparable misfortune when they sacrificed me to family considerations. You may, perhaps, blame me for seeking alleviations, but you will certainly feel for me.”
“After all the endless pains you take to settle your daughters suitably!” muttered M. de Navarreins, addressing the Vidame.
The Princess shook a stray grain of snuff from her skirts. “My dear little girl,” she said, “be happy, if you can. We are not talking of troubling your felicity, but of reconciling it with social usages. We all of us here assembled know that marriage is a defective institution tempered by love. But when you take a lover, is there any need to make your bed in the Place du Carrousel? See now, just be a bit reasonable, and hear what we have to say.”
“I am listening.”