e_ believes in gentle government by love. Her
daughter Angelique is a charming girl, anxious to do the right, but deeply
in love with, a young man, Dorante, unknown to her mother, and without
fortune. Madame Argante has already made her choice of an older man,
Ergaste, for whose wealth and respectability she has a natural admiration,
but, with her characteristic kindliness, determines not to force her
choice upon her daughter. "Vous ne l'epouserez pas malgre vous, ma chere
enfant," she says, meeting the objection of Angelique, and then, seeing
that there is some secret trouble, she seeks in the most graceful, tactful
way to learn the truth.

MADAME ARGANTE.
... Parle-moi a coeur ouvert; fais-moi ta confidente.

ANGELIQUE.
Vous, la confidente de votre fille?

MADAME ARGANTE.
Oh! votre fille, et qui te parle d'elle? Ce n'est point ta mere qui veut
etre ta confidente; c'est ton amie, encore une fois.

ANGELIQUE, _riant_.
D'accord; mais mon amie redira tout a ma mere; l'une est inseparable de
l'autre.

MADAME ARGANTE.
Eh bien! je les separe, moi; je t'en fais serment. Oui, mets-toi dans
l'esprit que ce que tu me confieras sur ce pied-la, c'est comme si ta mere
ne l'entendait pas....

Little by little the mother gains the daughter's confidence, until at
last, emboldened, Angelique confesses:

Vous m'avez demande si on avait attaque mon coeur? Que trop, puisque
j'aime!

MADAME ARGANTE, _d'un air serieux_.
Vous aimez?...

ANGELIQUE, _riant_.
Eh bien! ne voila-t-il pas cette mere qui est absente? C'est pourtant elle
qui me repond; mais rassurez-vous, car je badine.[123]

Nothing could be more graceful or more natural. This, then, is that
_marivaudage_, against which so much has been said!

Madame Argante has discovered the secret, and, fearful for her daughter's
welfare, she allows the mother nature to assume the upper hand, and points
out the danger of her course to Angelique, who, at last, comprehends, and
agrees to renounce her lover. This she attempts to do, but love will have
its way, and will not be put down. An elopement is arranged, which is
interrupted by the arrival of Madame Argante, who takes Dorante to task
for his indifference to the real happiness of Angelique. He is covered
with confusion, confesses his mistake, and by his manly attitude gains the
mother's heart and the daughter's hand. Ergaste, the rejected suitor,
proves to be an uncle of Dorante, and in a spirit of self-abnegation, well
nig