All Our Wordly Goods Read Online Free PDF

could never remain a secret in a tiny little place like Saint-Elme. What will she think? She’ll see very clearly that he’s only marrying her for her money. Of course such things are tacitly understood, but young women do not see life as we do. You told me yourself that she wasn’t always easy-going. What kind of future are you planning for Pierre?’
    She paused for a moment, then added more softly, ‘Granted, Agnès doesn’t have the kind of money Simone has, but she’s not completely poverty-stricken. Her father left her a dowry made up of very safe stocks and Russian bonds.’
    Charles had removed his spectacles; he wiped thelenses, put them back on, then took them off again, obviously upset.
    ‘Hear me out, Madame. I’m going to tell you my honest feelings and I am certain that my wife will agree. If it were only up to us … we love Pierre so much. But it isn’t only up to us. His marriage was arranged by my father. You know him. You know that he has never allowed me my own money, that I’m not even a partner in his business, just a sort of unpaid employee. He gives me a living allowance and he’ll give one to Pierre if he approves of whom he marries. What can I say? He’s old. He is … let us call a spade a spade, tyrannical. I have never questioned his will. I have always believed, as Clemenceau did of the French Revolution, that the family is an institution that one must accept as a whole. Pierre should do as I do. What’s more, he’s twenty-four. His future in the factory will be guaranteed. But if Pierre goes against his grandfather’s will, who knows what disasters might follow, for his grandfather will not allow him to remain here after the kind of scandal that you’re talking about. Finally, are you sure, ladies, that what you are getting yourselves all worked up over isn’t merely a matter of gossip and slander?’
    ‘Yes, perhaps that’s all it is,’ exclaimed Madame Hardelot. ‘There’s nothing for it, Charles, I’m going to ask Pierre to come in. What do you think?’
    ‘Be careful. This is a delicate situation.’
    ‘No, I want my mind put at rest. He’s being accused, he has the right to defend himself. It’s the least we can do.’
    ‘Be careful not to arouse the suspicion of the servants, Marthe. Josephine has already given me an odd look.’
    ‘Really?’ asked Madame Hardelot, upset. ‘Tomorrow I’ll let her go. And anyway, I suspect she’s seeing Papa’s driver …’
    ‘That’s awful. If Papa had the slightest suspicion …’
    ‘Certain people,’ said Madame Hardelot, glaring in fury at the other mother, ‘certain people couldn’t care less about the catastrophes they cause.’
    ‘You have the nerve to say that to me? To
me
? When my daughter’s entire future …’
    All three of them suddenly stopped speaking.
    Pierre had just come in. ‘I can hear you from my room. At least, I heard my name and Agnès’s. What’s going on?’
    He forced himself to remain calm; he said hello to Madame Florent.
    ‘This woman,’ cried Madame Hardelot, ‘claims that you enticed her daughter into the Coudre Woods. What
I
say, is …’
    ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’ asked Madame Florent softly.
    ‘We met twice. Both times in the presence of Agnès’s old nanny. Agnès and I wanted to say goodbye. We were both promised to others. I had given my word and we agreed to part. You are the ones who have brought us back together, for if the least harm happens to her …’
    ‘She’s ruined!’ cried out Madame Florent, raising the umbrella and handbag that she had held tightly against herheart in a gesture of despair reminiscent of Tosca when, in the last act of the opera, the heroine throws herself on the lifeless body of her lover. It surged forth from the depths of her memory, from a time when she dreamed of going on the stage and would spend her evenings singing the great operatic arias in front of the mirror.
    ‘Her reputation is ruined! Dr Lumbres … Oh, the