Well, I knew Eustace and Meg would have called me self-willed, when
my mother had once made such a noise about our taking shelter from
Broussel's mob at the Maison Darpent; but this was a mere visit of
charity and necessity, for it was quite certain that the two good
ladies could never have understood one another without me to
interpret for them. Moreover, when Clement Darpent had rescued my
sister from the mob, and was always watching to protect us, we surely
owed him some return of gratitude, and it would have been mere
bourgeois.
So I went with Lady Ommaney, and was refreshed by the sight of that
calm face of Madame Darpent, which she always seemed to me to have
borrowed from the angels, and which only grew the sweeter and more
exalted the greater was her trouble, as if she imbibed more and more
of heavenly grace in proportion to her needs.
We did our best, Lady Ommaney and I, to show and explain, but I do
not think it was to much purpose. The materials were not like our
English ones, and though mother and son were both full of thanks and
gratitude, Madame Darpent was clearly not half convinced that what
was good for an Englishman was good for a Frenchman, and even if she
had been more fully persuaded, I do not think her husband would have
endured any foreign treatment.
When we took leave she said, 'Permettez moi, ma chere demoiselle,'
and would have kissed my hand, but I threw my arms round her neck
embraced her, for there was something in her face that won my heart
more than it had ever gone out to any woman I ever saw; and I saw by
Lady Ommaney's whole face and gesture that she thought a great sorrow
was coming on the good woman.
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