Letters of Two Brides

MLLE. DE CHAULIEU TO MME. DE L'ESTORADE

February.

At nine o'clock this morning, sweetheart, my father was announced in

my rooms. I was up and dressed. I found him solemnly seated beside the

fire in the drawing-room, looking more thoughtful than usual. He

pointed to the armchair opposite to him. Divining his meaning, I sank

into it with a gravity, which so well aped his, that he could not

refrain from smiling, though the smile was dashed with melancholy.

"You are quite a match for your grandmother in quick-wittedness," he

said. "Come, father, don't play the courtier here," I replied; "you want

something from me."

He rose, visibly agitated, and talked to me for half an hour. This

conversation, dear, really ought to be preserved. As soon as he had

gone, I sat down to my table and tried to recall his words. This is

the first time that I have seen my father revealing his inner

thoughts. He began by flattering me, and he did not do it badly. I was bound to

be grateful to him for having understood and appreciated me.

"Armande," he said, "I was quite mistaken in you, and you have

agreeably surprised me. When you arrived from the convent, I took you

for an average young girl, ignorant and not particularly intelligent,

easily to be bought off with gewgaws and ornaments, and with little

turn for reflection."

"You are complimentary to young girls, father."

"Oh! there is no such thing as youth nowadays," he said, with the air

of a diplomat. "Your mind is amazingly open. You take everything at

its proper worth; your clear-sightedness is extraordinary, there is no

hoodwinking you. You pass for being blind, and all the time you have

laid your hand on causes, while other people are still puzzling over

effects. In short, you are a minister in petticoats, the only person

here capable of understanding me. It follows, then, that if I have any

sacrifice to ask from you, it is only to yourself I can turn for help

in persuading you.

"I am therefore going to explain to you, quite frankly, my former

plans, to which I still adhere. In order to recommend them to you, I

must show that they are connected with feelings of a very high order,

and I shall thus be obliged to enter into political questions of the

greatest importance to the kingdom, which might be wearisome to any

one less intelligent than you are. When you have heard me, I hope you

will take time for consideration, six months if necessary. You are

entirely your own mistress; and if you decline to make the sacrifice I

ask, I shall bow to your decision and trouble you no further."