would have good
reason for objecting. Nothing would go right here if I were absent. You
may have seen in me the mother of a family watchful to protect her young
from the hawk that is hovering over them; a weighty task, indeed, but
harder still are the cares imposed upon me by Monsieur de Mortsauf,
whose constant cry, as he follows me about is, 'Where is Madame?' I
am Jacques' tutor and Madeleine's governess; but that is not all, I am
bailiff and steward too. You will understand what that means when you
come to see, as you will, that the working of an estate in these parts
is the most fatiguing of all employments. We get small returns in money;
the farms are cultivated on shares, a system which needs the closest
supervision. We are obliged ourselves to sell our own produce, our
cattle and harvests of all kinds. Our competitors in the markets are our
own farmers, who meet consumers in the wine-shops and determine
prices by selling first. I should weary you if I explained the many
difficulties of agriculture in this region. No matter what care I give
to it, I cannot always prevent our tenants from putting our manure upon
their ground, I cannot be ever on the watch lest they take advantage
of us in the division of the crops; neither can I always know the
exact moment when sales should be made. So, if you think of Monsieur de
Mortsauf's defective memory, and the difficulty you have seen me have in
persuading him to attend to business, you can understand the burden that
is on my shoulders, and the impossibility of my laying it down for a
single day. If I were absent we should be ruined. No one would obey
Monsieur de Mortsauf. In the first place his orders are conflicting;
then no one likes him; he finds incessant fault, and he is very
domineering. Moreover, like all men of feeble mind, he listens too
readily to his inferiors. If I left the house not a servant would be in
it in a week's time. So you see I am attached to Clochegourde as those
leaden finals are to our roof. I have no reserves with you. The whole
country-side is still ignorant of the secrets of this house, but
you know them, you have seen them. Say nothing but what is kind and
friendly, and you shall have my esteem--my gratitude," she added in a
softer voice. "On those terms you are welcome at Clochegourde, where you
will find friends."

"Ah!" I exclaimed, "I see that I have never really suffered, while
you--"

"No, no!" she exclaimed, with a smile, that smile