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To please her husband, Madame du Bousquier had broken off relations with the d'Esgrignon household, where she went no longer, except that sometimes when her husband left her during his trips to Paris, she would pay a brief visit to Mademoiselle Armande.
Armande showed it to Chesnel. Chesnel was pleased and raised not a single objection. It was clear, as the Marquis and the Chevalier agreed, that a young man in favor with the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse would shortly be a hero at court, where in the old days women were all-powerful. The Count had not made a bad choice.
The man who had just paid the debts of the family quaked at the thought of confessing these things. He went from the Rue du Bercail to the Hotel d'Esgrignon with pulses throbbing like some girl's heart when she leaves her father's roof by stealth, not to return again till she is a mother and her heart is broken. Mlle. Armande had just received a charming letter, charming in its hypocrisy.
Women count for little in it; that may perhaps be a survival of Bonapartist ideas." "Armande is coming on extraordinarily," said my mother. "Mother, did you think I should never get beyond asking to see Mme. de Stael?" My father smiled, and rose from the table. Saturday. My dear, I have left one thing out. Here is the tidbit I have reserved for you.
The debts must be paid now; you must marry an heiress, M. le Comte, there is nothing left for you to do." "And take her where you may find her," said the Duchess. "A second mesalliance!" exclaimed Mlle. Armande. The Duchess began to laugh. "It is better to marry than to die," she said. As she spoke she drew from her waistcoat pocket a tiny crystal phial that came from the court apothecary. Mlle.
Armande, and the Chevalier were left with the handsome young page, now about to return to Paris. The charming cavalier's sex could not be hidden from the Chevalier, and he alone, besides the three officials and Mme. Camusot, knew that the Duchess had been among them. "The house is saved," began Chesnel, "but after this shock it will take a hundred years to rise again.
He held out the bills, and described the agony of the last few days in a few simple but vigorous and touching words. "He is deceiving us! The miserable boy!" cried Mlle. Armande, her heart swelling as the blood surged back to it in heavy throbs.
"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."
The debts must be paid now; you must marry an heiress, M. le Comte, there is nothing left for you to do." "And take her where you may find her," said the Duchess. "A second mesalliance!" exclaimed Mlle. Armande. The Duchess began to laugh. "It is better to marry than to die," she said. As she spoke she drew from her waistcoat pocket a tiny crystal phial that came from the court apothecary. Mlle.
Armande began anxiously. "Yes, things that cannot be told to M. le Marquis; he would drop down in an apoplectic fit." "Speak out," she said. With her beautiful head leant on the back of her low chair, and her arms extended listlessly by her side, she looked as if she were waiting passively for her deathblow.
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