“That is a reproach, my dear,” replied the French governess, serenely, knitting on steadily with mittened hands.
“No, it is a compliment. You developed the heart. You did right. But I should kill it.”
“My child, I could not have killed your heart; it was too large.” The little old doll laid down her work, to gaze affectionately at her former pupil.
“Why has God sold us to men that we must live with them?” cried Helena, passionately. “He should have given us to angels or to brutes. We could have been happy with either of those.”
“Fi, donc, ma chérie,” said Mademoiselle. “The good God knows his business better than you.”
“Ah, my dear Papotier, you are an orthodox Christian. You enjoy all the consolations of religion and neglect all its duties. It is a very advantageous arrangement to be an orthodox Christian.”
“It is,” replied the Frenchwoman, with a quick gleam of malice. “For we Christians, although we do wrong like other people, at least occasionally have the grace to leave off.” She dropped her eyelids, and her needles clicked.
“Yes, when you are tired of it,” retorted Helena, who perfectly understood the allusion to her penchant for her cousin. “And then your priest gives you absolution. I would not buy off the flames of hell at the rate of a florin per fagot.” She paused, meditatively. “And feel them burning just the same,” she added. Then she laughed. “Papot,” she said, “you do not know that I have got a new admirer? No, I do not mean Willie, though he certainly is more considerate than he used to be. My admirer is old, and fat, and yellow; his name is Mopius, and he is uncle to the Queen of the Horst. I met him there the Christmas before last. Him and his—charming young wife.”
“Yes?” assented Mademoiselle, listlessly. “My dear, you have many admirers. Fortunately they are platonic”—she sighed a little sigh—“as were mine.”
“This one is obstreperous,” persisted Helena, glancing at the clock. “He presented me with a big bouquet last night at the Casino ball, making a fool of me before everybody. And he asked permission to call without his wife. Such things should be done without asking. I am expecting him even now.”