the mystical language to which our
religious training had accustomed us. "See the paths by which we
have approached each other; what magnet led us through that ocean of
bitterness to these springs of running water, flowing at the foot of
those hills above the shining sands and between their green and flowery
meadows? Have we not followed the same star? We stand before the cradle
of a divine child whose joyous carol will renew the world for us, teach
us through happiness a love of life, give to our nights their long-lost
sleep, and to the days their gladness. What hand is this that year by
year has tied new cords between us? Are we not more than brother and
sister? That which heaven has joined we must not keep asunder. The
sufferings you reveal are the seeds scattered by the sower for the
harvest already ripening in the sunshine. Shall we not gather it sheaf
by sheaf? What strength is in me that I dare address you thus! Answer,
or I will never again recross that river!"

"You have spared me the word _love_," she said, in a stern voice, "but
you have spoken of a sentiment of which I know nothing and which is not
permitted to me. You are a child; and again I pardon you, but for the
last time. Endeavor to understand, Monsieur, that my heart is, as it
were, intoxicated with motherhood. I love Monsieur de Mortsauf neither
from social duty nor from a calculated desire to win eternal blessings,
but from an irresistible feeling which fastens all the fibres of my
heart upon him. Was my marriage a mistake? My sympathy for misfortune
led to it. It is the part of women to heal the woes caused by the march
of events, to comfort those who rush into the breach and return wounded.
How shall I make you understand me? I have felt a selfish pleasure in
seeing that you amused him; is not that pure motherhood? Did I not make
you see by what I owned just now, the _three_ children to whom I am
bound, to whom I shall never fail, on whom I strive to shed a healing
dew and the light of my own soul without withdrawing or adulterating a
single particle? Do not embitter the mother's milk! though as a wife I
am invulnerable, you must never again speak thus to me. If you do not
respect this command, simple as it is, the door of this house will
be closed to you. I believed in pure friendship, in a voluntary
brotherhood, more real, I thought, than the brotherhood of blood. I
was mistaken. I wanted a friend who was not a judge, a friend who would
listen