letters, as she called them, which the Kergarouets and the Portendueres
had written her.

"There is no such thing as family in these days, mother," replied
Savinien, "nothing but individuals! The nobles are no longer a compact
body. No one asks or cares whether I am a Portenduere, or brave, or a
statesmen; all they ask now-a-days is, 'What taxes does he pay?'"

"But the king?" asked the old lady.

"The king is caught between the two Chambers like a man between his wife
and his mistress. So I shall have to marry some rich girl without
regard to family,--the daughter of a peasant if she has a million and is
sufficiently well brought-up--that is to say, if she has been taught in
school."

"Oh! there's no need to talk of that," said the old lady.

Savinien frowned as he heard the words. He knew the granite will, called
Breton obstinacy, that distinguished his mother, and he resolved to know
at once her opinion on this delicate matter.

"So," he went on, "if I loved a young girl,--take for instance your
neighbour's godchild, little Ursula,--would you oppose my marriage?"

"Yes, as long as I live," she replied; "and after my death you would
be responsible for the honor and the blood of the Kergarouets and the
Portendueres."

"Would you let me die of hunger and despair for the chimera of nobility,
which has no reality to-day unless it has the lustre of great wealth?"

"You could serve France and put faith in God."

"Would you postpone my happiness till after your death?"

"It would be horrible if you took it then,--that is all I have to say."

"Louis XIV. came very near marrying the niece of Mazarin, a parvenu."

"Mazarin himself opposed it."

"Remember the widow Scarron."

"She was a d'Aubigne. Besides, the marriage was in secret. But I am very
old, my son," she said, shaking her head. "When I am no more you can, as
you say, marry whom you please."

Savinien both loved and respected his mother; but he instantly, though
silently, set himself in opposition to her with an obstinacy equal
to her own, resolving to have no other wife than Ursula, to whom this
opposition gave, as often happens in similar circumstances, the value of
a forbidden thing.

When, after vespers, the doctor, with Ursula, who was dressed in pink
and white, entered the cold, stiff salon, the girl was seized with
nervous trembling, as though she had entered the presence of the queen
of France and had a favor to beg of her. Since her confes