Honore de Balzac: A Woman of Thirty

6. VI. THE OLD AGE OF A GUILTY MOTHER (continued)

"It is my duty, my child, to warn you in one of the most serious crises in the lives of us women; you have perhaps reached it unconsciously, and I am come to speak to you as a friend rather than as a mother. When you married, you acquired freedom of action; you are only accountable to your husband now; but I asserted my authority so little (perhaps I was wrong), that I think I have a right to expect you to listen to me, for once at least, in a critical position when you must need counsel. Bear in mind, Moina that you are married to a man of high ability, a man of whom you may well be proud, a man who--"

"I know what you are going to say, mother!" Moina broke in pettishly. "I am to be lectured about Alfred--"

"Moina," the Marquise said gravely, as she struggled with her tears, "you would not guess at once if you did not feel--"

"What?" asked Moina, almost haughtily. "Why, really, mother--"

Mme. d'Aiglemont summoned up all her strength. "Moina," she said, "you must attend carefully to this that I ought to tell you--"

"I am attending," returned the Countess, folding her arms, and affecting insolent submission. "Permit me, mother, to ring for Pauline," she added with incredible self-possession; "I will send her away first."

She rang the bell.

"My dear child, Pauline cannot possibly hear--"

"Mamma," interrupted the Countess, with a gravity which must have struck her mother as something unusual, "I must--"

She stopped short, for the woman was in the room.

"Pauline, go yourself to Baudran's, and ask why my hat has not yet been sent."