Letters of Two Brides

THE SAME TO THE SAME

November 25th.

Next day I found my rooms done out and dusted, and even flowers put in

the vases, by old Philippe. I began to feel at home. Only it didn't

occur to anybody that a Carmelite schoolgirl has an early appetite,

and Rose had no end of trouble in getting breakfast for me.

"Mlle. goes to bed at dinner-time," she said to me, "and gets up when

the Duke is just returning home." I began to write.

About one o'clock my father knocked at the door of

the small drawing-room and asked if he might come in. I opened the

door; he came in, and found me writing to you.

"My dear," he began, "you will have to get yourself clothes, and to

make these rooms comfortable. In this purse you will find twelve

thousand francs, which is the yearly income I purpose allowing you for

your expenses. You will make arrangements with your mother as to some

governess whom you may like, in case Miss Griffith doesn't please you,

for Mme. de Chaulieu will not have time to go out with you in the

mornings. A carriage and man-servant shall be at your disposal."

"Let me keep Philippe," I said. "So be it," he replied.

"But don't be uneasy; you have money enough of

your own to be no burden either to your mother or me."

"May I ask how much I have?"

"Certainly, my child," he said. "Your grandmother left you five

hundred thousand francs; this was the amount of her savings, for she

would not alienate a foot of land from the family. This sum has been

placed in Government stock, and, with the accumulated interest, now

brings in about forty thousand francs a year. With this I had purposed

making an independence for your second brother, and it is here that

you have upset my plans. Later, however, it is possible that you may

fall in with them. It shall rest with yourself, for I have confidence

in your good sense far more than I had expected.

"I do not need to tell you how a daughter of the Chaulieus ought to

behave. The pride so plainly written in your features is my best

guarantee. Safeguards, such as common folk surround their daughters

with, would be an insult in our family. A slander reflecting on your

name might cost the life of the man bold enough to utter it, or the

life of one of your brothers, if by chance the right should not

prevail. No more on this subject. Good-bye, little one."