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Updated: June 4, 2025
Her scrofulous boy Stanislas was to inherit, at his majority, the Hotel Crevel and eighty thousand francs a year. Among the many noble associations founded in Paris by Catholic charity, there is one, originated by Madame de la Chanterie, for promoting civil and religious marriages between persons who have formed a voluntary but illicit union.
"As we go to mass every morning, you will not be surprised to find us blindly following all the customs of the Church, even the severest." "And you shall begin by imitating us," said Madame de la Chanterie, with a glance at Godefroid, whom she had placed beside her. Of the five persons present Godefroid knew the names of three, Madame de la Chanterie, the Abbe de Veze, and Monsieur Alain.
He wished for the plainest uniformity in this retreat, and Madame de la Chanterie approved of the idea. She calculated, with Manon's assistance, the number of yards of white calico required for the window curtains, and also for those of the modest iron bed; and she undertook to buy and have them made for a price so moderate as to surprise Godefroid.
Godefroid looked at Madame de la Chanterie as he listened to the harmonies of her limpid voice; he examined that face so purely white, resembling those of the cold, grave women of Holland whom the Flemish painters have so wonderfully reproduced with their smooth skins, in which a wrinkle is impossible. "White and plump!" he said to himself, as he walked away; "but her hair is white, too."
"Listen to me, my dear angel!" said Madame de la Chanterie, who uttered the last three words with a gentle solemnity that touched the young man strangely. "We have forbidden ourselves absolutely, and we do not trifle with words here; what is forbidden no longer occupies our minds, we have forbidden ourselves to enter into any speculations.
Having brought with him a certain amount of furniture, the whole cost of fitting up the rooms proved to be not over six hundred francs. "We lead here," said Madame de la Chanterie, "a Christian life, which does not, as you know, accord with many superfluities; I think you have too many as it is."
The goodman wore trousers a pied and his gray camlet dressing-gown. His feet were at a level with the fire, resting on a cushion done in worsted-work, as were his slippers, by Madame de la Chanterie. The fine head of the old man, without other covering than its crown of white hair, almost like that of a monk, stood out in clear relief against the brown background of an enormous armchair.
Madame de la Chanterie desired, above all, some one of simple life, who would not be exacting; she could afford to put only the strictest necessaries into the apartment. "I do not think," said the priest, "that monsieur is inclined to enter our convent." "Eh! why not?" said Monsieur Alain; "we are all well off here; we have nothing to complain of."
"Madame de la Chanterie," he went on, after a pause, "comes from one of the first families of Lower Normandy. Her maiden name was Mademoiselle Barbe-Philiberte de Champignelles, of the younger branch of that house. She was destined to take the veil unless she could make a marriage which renounced on the husband's side the dowry her family could not give her.
He was stunned by the communication Madame de la Chanterie had just made to him, in a tone which implied that she wished to reward his ardor. "Five thousand families assisted!" he kept repeating to himself. "If they were to cost what I am to spend on Monsieur Bernard, we must have millions scattered through Paris."
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