hessel naturally proposed to her neighbors to
pass the intermediate time at Frapesle instead of crossing the Indre and
the meadows twice in the great heat. The offer was accepted. Monsieur de
Chessel gave his arm to the duchess, Madame de Chessel took that of the
count. I offered mine to the countess, and felt, for the first time,
that beautiful arm against my side. As we walked from the church to
Frapesle by the woods of Sache, where the light, filtering down through
the foliage, made those pretty patterns on the path which seem like
painted silk, such sensations of pride, such ideas took possession of me
that my heart beat violently.

"What is the matter?" she said, after walking a little way in a silence
I dared not break. "Your heart beats too fast--"

"I have heard of your good fortune," I replied, "and, like all others
who love truly, I am beset with vague fears. Will your new dignities
change you and lessen your friendship?"

"Change me!" she said; "oh, fie! Another such idea and I shall--not
despise you, but forget you forever."

I looked at her with an ecstasy which should have been contagious.

"We profit by the new laws which we have neither brought about nor
demanded," she said; "but we are neither place-hunters nor beggars;
besides, as you know very well, neither Monsieur de Mortsauf nor I can
leave Clochegourde. By my advice he has declined the command to which
his rank entitled him at the Maison Rouge. We are quite content that my
father should have the place. This forced modesty," she added with some
bitterness, "has already been of service to our son. The king, to whose
household my father is appointed, said very graciously that he
would show Jacques the favor we were not willing to accept. Jacques'
education, which must now be thought of, is already being discussed.
He will be the representative of two houses, the Lenoncourt and the
Mortsauf families. I can have no ambition except for him, and therefore
my anxieties seem to have increased. Not only must Jacques live, but
he must be made worthy of his name; two necessities which, as you know,
conflict. And then, later, what friend will keep him safe for me in
Paris, where all things are pitfalls for the soul and dangers for the
body? My friend," she said, in a broken voice, "who could not see upon
your brow and in your eyes that you are one who will inhabit heights?
Be some day the guardian and sponsor of our boy. Go to Paris; if your
father and br