But Madame Casalis was on the whole content; she left the dreaming to her husband, the prettinesses to pretty Geneviève, too busy to think about herself at all. And in her own domain she reigned supreme.
“What is there then, Geneviève?” she inquired, as she drew near to her daughter and old Mathurine. “Dost thou not like my little commission, my child? The soup will not be good if we keep it till to-morrow, and the old mother Lafon is always so pleased to see thee.”
Her mother’s tone was unusually gentle. Geneviève felt emboldened by it to express her real objection to the arrangement.
“I like very well to go, mamma,” said Geneviève amiably, “if it might be alone with Mathurine. But with Eudoxie it will take us so long. She is so full of life, the poor child; and surtout le Dimanche, one meets tant de monde, and then it would be so distressing if she soiled her best frock with picking flowers and jumping on the banks. But of course it is as thou wishest, chère mamma.”
A slight look of disappointment crossed Madame Casalis’ face. She would have been glad of an hour’s rest from little Eudoxie’s chatter. But somewhat to Genevievè’s surprise, she answered quickly,
“It may be better for la petite to stay with me. Hasten then, my child; thou shalt go alone with Mathurine.”
Geneviève gave all the credit to her judicious suggestion of possible damage to the best frock; she little suspected that today of all days it would have been hard for her mother to oppose any wish she had expressed. She was turning to go into the house to prepare for her walk, when her mother stopped her.
“When thou shalt be returned, my child,” she said, “come at once to thy father and me. He wishes to talk to thee a little. We shall be in his room;” and she re-entered the house as she spoke, giving Geneviève no opportunity to ask any of the questions her curiosity immediately suggested.
“What could mamma mean, thinkest thou, Mathurine?” she said, a few minutes later, when she and her companion had set off on their errand. “What can my father have to speak about to me?”
“Perhaps some great monsieur, some milord, perhaps—songe à demander ma demoiselle?” said the old servant gravely. “Mademoiselle n’est plus enfant, on voit bien.”