Then it is only in being constantly with them that one can study their characters.  It is the duty of a mother, and one which she can depute to no hired teacher, to decipher the tastes, temper, and natural aptitudes of her children from their infancy.  All home-bred children are distinguished by ease of manner and tact, two acquired qualities which may go far to supply the lack of natural ability, whereas no natural ability can atone for the loss of this early training.  I have already learned to discriminate this difference of tone in the men whom I meet in society, and to trace the hand of a woman in the formation of a young man’s manners.  How could any woman defraud her children of such a possession?  You see what rewards attend the performance of my tasks!

Armand, I feel certain, will make an admirable judge, the most upright of public servants, the most devoted of deputies.  And where would you find a sailor bolder, more adventurous, more astute than my Rene will be a few years hence?  The little rascal has already an iron will, whatever he wants he manages to get; he will try a thousand circuitous ways to reach his end, and if not successful then, will devise a thousand and first.  Where dear Armand quietly resigns himself and tries to get at the reason of things, Rene will storm, and strive, and puzzle, chattering all the time, till at last he finds some chink in the obstacle; if there is room for the blade of a knife to pass, his little carriage will ride through in triumph.

And Nais?  Nais is so completely a second self that I can hardly realize her as distinct from my own flesh and blood.  What a darling she is, and how I love to make a little lady of her, to dress her curly hair, tender thoughts mingling the while with every touch!  I must have her happy; I shall only give her to the man who loves her and whom she loves.  But, Heavens! when I let her put on her little ornaments, or pass a cherry-colored ribbon through her hair, or fasten the shoes on her tiny feet, a sickening thought comes over me.  How can one order the destiny of a girl?  Who can say that she will not love a scoundrel or some man who is indifferent to her?  Tears often spring to my eyes as I watch her.  This lovely creature, this flower, this rosebud which has blossomed in one’s heart, to be handed over to a man who will tear it from the stem and leave it bare!  Louise, it is you —­you, who in two years have not written three words to tell me of your welfare—­it is you who have recalled to my mind the terrible possibilities of marriage, so full of anguish for a mother wrapped up, as I am, in her child.  Farewell now, for in truth you don’t deserve my friendship, and I hardly know how to write.  Oh! answer me, dear Louise.

LII

MME. GASTON TO MME. DE L’ESTORADE
The Chalet.