Letters of Two Brides

Nevertheless, the house of l'Estorade had done its best; the cupboards

had been ransacked, and its last man beaten up for the dinner, which

was served to us on old silver dishes, blackened and battered. The

exile, my darling pet, is like the railing, emaciated! He is pale and

silent, and bears traces of suffering. At thirty-seven he might be

fifty. The once beautiful ebon locks of youth are streaked with white

like a lark's wing. His fine blue eyes are cavernous; he is a little

deaf, which suggests the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.

Spite of all this, I have graciously consented to become Mme. de

l'Estorade and to receive a dowry of two hundred and fifty thousand

livres, but only on the express condition of being allowed to work my

will upon the grange and make a park there. I have demanded from my

father, in set terms, a grant of water, which can be brought thither

from Maucombe. In a month I shall be Mme. de l'Estorade; for, dear, I

have made a good impression. After the snows of Siberia a man is ready

enough to see merit in those black eyes, which according to you, used

to ripen fruit with a look. Louis de l'Estorade seems well content to

marry the fair Renee de Maucombe--such is your friend's splendid

title.

Whilst you are preparing to reap the joys of that many-sided existence

which awaits a young lady of the Chaulieu family, and to queen it in

Paris, your poor little sweetheart, Renee, that child of the desert,

has fallen from the empyrean, whither together we had soared, into the

vulgar realities of a life as homely as a daisy's. I have vowed to

myself to comfort this young man, who has never known youth, but

passed straight from his mother's arms to the embrace of war, and from

the joys of his country home to the frosts and forced labor of

Siberia. Humble country pleasures will enliven the monotony of my future. It

shall be my ambition to enlarge the oasis round my house, and to give

it the lordly shade of fine trees. My turf, though Provencal, shall be

always green.

I shall carry my park up the hillside and plant on the

highest point some pretty kiosque, whence, perhaps, my eyes may catch

the shimmer of the Mediterranean. Orange and lemon trees, and all

choicest things that grow, shall embellish my retreat; and there will

I be a mother among my children. The poetry of Nature, which nothing

can destroy, shall hedge us round; and standing loyally at the post of

duty, we need fear no danger. My religious feelings are shared by my

father-in-law and by the Chevalier.