“So it is,” replied Lisette, angrily, “and it is by failure of courtesy and civility that Caliste will lose it.”
Victorine sighed, for she saw clearly that a breach was made between her two sisters that nothing but time could heal. The elder, in her pride, shunned compassion, whilst the triumphant self-conceit of the younger was a perpetual gall to her sister.
Thus was peace banished from the household of Durocher, and Valmont and his wife were in a perpetual excitement, lest Felicie Durand should be elected, and their own children passed over. Mimi was wholly for
her sister Caliste, in opposition to Lisette, whilst Caliste felt her cause a failing one, and had the mortifying assurance she should have to yield the triumph to a younger sister.
Victorine felt for all, and did not know what to desire, for whichever way it turned out, it would bring sorrow to the family in one or other of its members—and thus passed the first four days of Dorsain’s visit at Salency.
It was on the Sunday morning, being the first of June, that the election was to be made, after Prône, in church. Prone is an exhortation or lecture, read by the priest at mass, in which he announces the holy days of the ensuing week.
Caliste, Lisette, and Felicie Durand, attired in white, walked together to church, and sate side by side during the service, all eyes being fixed upon them. Dorsain, with his sister and her husband, and Mimi, were also there, but Victorine, who could not join in the service, remained at home to pray for her sisters. Whilst thus left to solitude, she had time given her not only gratefully to thank God for not being one in the strife, but also to implore
that the lesson might be beneficial to her family.
From Mimi she learnt that Caliste had reason to believe that Lisette would be preferred to herself, the beauty of her younger sister having attracted the attention and admiration of Madame la Baronne, whose husband was to proclaim the Rosiere.
Earnestly did she pray that the disappointment might be blest to Caliste, and, after shedding some tears for this sister’s sake, she prepared to receive her in the manner that would be most agreeable to a proud and disappointed mind. Being led to see that this trial might be, in the end, a blessing to Caliste, Victorine became composed, and even happy, for that peace of God, which passeth all understanding, was shed upon her mind, and she knew that in life or death He was with her, her friend, her guide, her consoler, in all trouble. To this divine Friend and Father she intrusted her sister; and now, with peace in her mind, its holy calm being visible on her brow, she awaited the return of her family from mass.