Dear,--no words can express the astonishment of all our party when,at luncheon,we were told that you had both gone,and,above all,when the postilion who took you to Marseilles handed me your mad letter.
Why,naughty child,it was of your happiness,and nothing else,that made the theme of those talks below the rock,on the "Louise"seat,and you had not the faintest justification for objecting to them.
/Ingrata!/My sentence on you is that you return here at my first summons.In that horrid letter,scribbled on the inn paper,you did not tell me what would be your next stopping place;so I must address this to Chantepleurs.
Listen to me,dear sister of my heart.Know first,that my mind is set on your happiness.Your husband,dear Louise,commands respect,not only by his natural gravity and dignified expression,but also because he somehow impresses one with the splendid power revealed in his piquant plainness and in the fire of his velvet eyes;and you will understand that it was some little time before I could meet him on those easy terms which are almost necessary for intimate conversation.
Further,this man has been Prime Minister,and he idolizes you;whence it follows that he must be a profound dissembler.To fish up secrets,therefore,from the rocky caverns of this diplomatic soul is a work demanding a skilful hand no less than a ready brain.Nevertheless,Isucceeded at last,without rousing my victim's suspicions,in discovering many things of which you,my pet,have no conception.
You know that,between us two,my part is rather that of reason,yours of imagination:I personify sober duty,you reckless love.It has pleased fate to continue in our lives this contrast in character which was imperceptible to all except ourselves.I am a simple country vicountess,very ambitious,and making it her task to lead her family on the road to prosperity.On the other hand,Macumer,late Duc de Soria,has a name in the world,and you,a duchess by right,reign in Paris,where reigning is no easy matter even for kings.You have a considerable fortune,which will be doubled if Macumer carries out his projects for developing his great estates in Sardinia,the resources of which are matter of common talk at Marseilles.Deny,if you can,that if either has the right to be jealous,it is not you.But,thank God,we have both hearts generous enough to place our friendship beyond reach of such vulgar pettiness.
I know you,dear;I know that,ere now,you are ashamed of having fled.But don't suppose that your flight will save you from a single word of discourse which I had prepared for your benefit to-day beneath the rock.Read carefully then,I beg of you,what I say,for it concerns you even more closely than Macumer,though he also enters largely into my sermon.
Firstly,my dear,you do not love him.Before two years are over,you will be sick of adoration.You will never look on Felipe as a husband;to you he will always be the lover whom you can play with,for that is how all women treat their lovers.You do not look up to him,or reverence,or worship him as a woman should the god of her idolatry.
You see,I have made a study of love,my sweet,and more than once have I taken soundings in the depth of my own heart.Now,as the result of a careful diagnosis of your case,I can say with confidence,this is not love.
Yes,dear Queen of Paris,you cannot escape the destiny of all queens.
The day will come when you long to be treated as a light-o'-love,to be mastered and swept off your feet by a strong man,one who will not prostrate himself in adoration before you,but will seize your arm roughly in a fit of jealousy.Macumer loves you too fondly ever to be able either to resist you or find fault with you.A single glance from you,a single coaxing word,would melt his sternest resolution.Sooner or later,you will learn to scorn this excessive devotion.He spoils you,alas!just as I used to spoil you at the convent,for you are a most bewitching woman,and there is no escaping your siren-like charms.
Worse than all,you are candid,and it often happens that our happiness depends on certain social hypocrisies to which you will never stoop.For instance,society will not tolerate a frank display of the wife's power over her husband.The convention is that a man must no more show himself the lover of his wife,however passionately he adores her,than a married woman may play the part of a mistress.
This rule you both disregard.
In the first place,my child,from what you have yourself told me,it is clear that the one unpardonable sin in society is to be happy.If happiness exists,no one must know of it.But this is a small point.
