Chapter 14

Eugenie came slowly back from the garden to the house, and avoided
passing, as was her custom, through the corridor. But the memory of
her cousin was in the gray old hall and on the chimney-piece, where
stood a certain saucer and the old Sevres sugar-bowl which she used
every morning at her breakfast.

This day was destined to be solemn throughout and full of events.
Nanon announced the cure of the parish church. He was related to the
Cruchots, and therefore in the interests of Monsieur de Bonfons. For
some time past the old abbe had urged him to speak to Mademoiselle
Grandet, from a purely religious point of view, about the duty of
marriage for a woman in her position. When she saw her pastor, Eugenie
supposed he had come for the thousand francs which she gave monthly to
the poor, and she told Nanon to go and fetch them; but the cure only
smiled.

"To-day, mademoiselle," he said, "I have come to speak to you about a
poor girl in whom the whole town of Saumur takes an interest, who,
through lack of charity to herself, neglects her Christian duties."

"Monsieur le cure, you have come to me at a moment when I cannot think
of my neighbor, I am filled with thoughts of myself. I am very
unhappy; my only refuge is in the Church; her bosom is large enough to
hold all human woe, her love so full that we may draw from its depths
and never drain it dry."

"Mademoiselle, in speaking of this young girl we shall speak of you.
Listen! If you wish to insure your salvation you have only two paths
to take,--either leave the world or obey its laws. Obey either your
earthly destiny or your heavenly destiny."

"Ah! your voice speaks to me when I need to hear a voice. Yes, God has
sent you to me; I will bid farewell to the world and live for God
alone, in silence and seclusion."

"My daughter, you must think long before you take so violent a step.
Marriage is life, the veil is death."

"Yes, death,--a quick death!" she said, with dreadful eagerness.

"Death? but you have great obligations to fulfil to society,
mademoiselle. Are you not the mother of the poor, to whom you give
clothes and wood in winter and work in summer? Your great fortune is a
loan which you must return, and you have sacredly accepted it as such.
To bury yourself in a convent would be selfishness; to remain an old
maid is to fail in duty. In the first place, can you manage your vast
property alone? May you not lose it? You will have law-suits, you will
find yourself surrounded by inextricable difficulties. Believe your
pastor: a husband is useful; you are bound to preserve what God has
bestowed upon you. I speak to you as a precious lamb of my flock.