Popular Tales

by Madame Guizot

"Yes, my child, you ought to do so, and you will do so. What I sacrifice to you now, you will return to me one day with interest. Be calm, my dear child, be calm; your mother has patience enough to wait for you." Marietta vowed in her heart to devote herself to the happiness of her mother, and consoled by her gentle words, she gradually returned to her ordinary state of feeling. From that day, also, she laboured with increased diligence to overcome her faults, and, with her mother's assistance, succeeded in obtaining an almost complete self-control. But she became daily more thin and melancholy, and at last the physician declared, that unless she had country air he could not answer for her life.

This was a terrible sentence for Madame Leroi, whose slender funds were already well nigh exhausted in the purchase of the necessary remedies for her daughter. Madame Thibourg, to whom she related her grief and embarrassment, proposed that they should hire in common a small country house at Saint Mandé, which she knew was to be let for six hundred francs. "We shall easily," she said, "save the hundred crowns it will cost us each, by the advantage of living in common." Madame Leroi, however, knew very well that her expenses would be quite as heavy, to say the least, in living with Madame Thibourg, who was better off, and less economical, than herself; but, too happy to discover any practical means of overcoming her difficulty, she trusted to make up for any additional expense that might be necessary, by working harder, and now only thought of procuring the hundred crowns, which it was necessary to pay in advance, for the hire of the house. For this purpose she sold her coverlet of eider-down, together with four beautiful engravings which ornamented her room, and she made up the remainder of the sum, as well as what was necessary for the expenses of the journey, with the money destined for the purchase of a stove to be placed in the little room where they usually took their meals, for as she would not admit into her sitting-room anything likely to soil her work, and was very sensitive to the cold, she was obliged in the winter to take her meals in the kitchen, where the fumes of the charcoal frequently gave her headaches, and pains in the chest.

These arrangements, which could not be concealed from Marietta, gave her great annoyance. She had become excessively sensitive on all points, and notwithstanding her ardent desire to go into the country, the sale of the coverlet of eider-down, which she knew to be so necessary to her mother's comfort, threw her into such a fit of despair, that Madame Leroi was obliged to remonstrate with her, even with some degree of severity, in order to bring her to herself. "Do you forget, Marietta," she said, "that it is your duty to endeavour to regain your health and strength, in order that you may one day be useful to me."

This idea had a beneficial effect, by diverting her thoughts towards other objects. She busied herself in preparations for their departure, with an alacrity and zeal which revived a ray of joy and hope in her mother's breast; and, indeed, scarcely were they beyond the barriers of the city, than she seemed to regain new life; and at the end of a week, after their arrival in the country, she was hardly to be recognized for the same person, to such an extent had that thin and pallid form, which before seemed ready to sink into the grave, regained the freshness and vigour of health. Madame Leroi, her eyes filled with tears of happiness, was never weary of looking at her; and the eyes of Marietta constantly sought those of her mother, as if to confirm the hope that gave her this happiness. With health returned the cheerfulness and buoyancy natural to her years, accompanied by an energy of purpose which enabled her to accomplish whatever she undertook. As her judgment was remarkably developed, she employed the new powers, which she felt rising within her, in the attainment of those acquirements of which she stood in need, and of those qualities in which she was deficient. The devoted tenderness of her mother had made upon her, especially of late, an impression so profound, that she was tormented with the desire of being able, in her turn, to consecrate to her all her faculties. With this thought ever before her, she applied herself with a kind of passion to regain, in her studies, the time she had lost through her illness; and the pleasure of satisfying her mother was, besides, the daily recompense of her efforts. Nevertheless, when the smiles and words of Madame Leroi expressed this satisfaction, "It is all very well, mamma," she would say, with a kind of impatience; "you are pleased, but it is for my sake, and because you think the progress I make is advantageous to me. When shall I be able to do something solely for you?"

"Patience!" replied her mother; smiling, "I promise you the time will come."

"May it come speedily, then!" continued Marietta, with an eager sigh; and she applied herself to her labours with redoubled energy. She also endeavoured, with great care, to regain the good opinion of Madame Thibourg, which she had forfeited by the late display of temper, of which that lady had been a witness; for young people know not the injury they do themselves when they give way to their faults in the presence of strangers, who can only judge of them by what they casually see, and who, in consequence, often receive an impression very unfavourable to them, and very difficult to be removed. At first Madame Thibourg was prejudiced against her, and attributed to her faults which she did not possess. Marietta was amazed at this, but her mother explained to her the cause of the injustice.

"Well, if she is unjust," said Marietta, with the natural pride of her age, "so much the worse for her."

"No, my child! so much the worse for you, since it is your fault that has made her so. Had you not been the cause of this injustice, by appearing before her in an unfavourable light, you need not have troubled yourself about it, provided you bore it with gentleness; but since you have caused it, you ought to endeavour to remove it."

After a few outbursts of impetuosity, which her naturally hasty disposition led her to indulge in, but which her good sense always overcame in the end, she perceived the truth of her mother's words, and strove so earnestly to watch her temper, that in a short time she gained such a complete mastery over her feelings, that she could barely be reproached with an occasional momentary irritability, which a look or a word from her mother was always sufficient to repress. Sometimes, even, Madame Leroi only cast down her eyes, when Marietta, warned by this movement, instantly recollected herself, and with charming grace and frankness hastened to repair the incipient fault; so that in the opinion of Madame Thibourg, as well as in that of all who knew her, Marietta, after a residence of some eight or nine months at Saint-Mandé, was in every respect so completely changed for the better, that she was scarcely to be recognised for the same person. At this time she was nearly sixteen years of age.

They returned to Paris at the commencement of the winter, Madame Thibourg not wishing to pass it in the country, and the bad weather rendering more inconvenient the journeys which Madame Leroi was obliged to make to town to obtain or return work, especially as they had often to be made on foot. These journeys, too fatiguing for her at all times, had already injured her health; the winter, which was very severe, laid her up completely. Marietta, persuaded that the loss of the coverlet of eider-down contributed to her mother's sufferings, was sometimes seized with a sort of feverish impatience, at seeing so long delayed the time when she should be able to add to her comforts, and her only consolation was to apply to her studies with redoubled energy. The spring was cold and late; their provision of wood had come to an end. Madame Leroi, who had been prevented by the state of her health from working as much as she wished during the winter, and was not willing to get into debt, pretended to be able to do without a fire; but Marietta, who saw her suffering, wept with vexation and anxiety when, on opening her window each morning, she found the weather as cold as on the previous day. She would have been very glad if her mother would have allowed her to assist her; but although she worked very fairly, Madame Leroi, who did not wish her to waste her time in becoming a proficient in this kind of work, was afraid to trust her, and always sent her back to her studies, saying, "Never mind, Marietta, you will have time enough to work for me by-and-by."