Finding Emilie Read Online Free PDF Page B

the deliberate manner of someone setting an example. Bread, she often reminded Lili, should never be cut at the table, but broken off just so. Only stale bread required a knife, and one should never be served anything but the freshest loaves from a host. Above all, appearing hungry by tearing off a bite with one’s teeth was the mark of a peasant.
    “Works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love, and have no other objective than to arrive at love,” Lili recited, putting in her mouth a piece of bread so small it dissolved without requiring her to swallow. It’s a good thing Corinne made sure I had breakfast at home, Lili thought, since I won’t get a single real mouthful until I’m back for dinner.
    Baronne Lomont leaned forward from the hips with the rigidity imposed by a tightly laced corset. Lili almost certainly was exposed to guests in a shocking state of disarray when she visited Julie de Bercy, and that was all the more reason the baroness herself needed to set an example. She had told Lili as much, pointing out with great frequency how exhausting it was for her, ailing with nearly everything that could afflict a woman in her sixties, to fulfill her duty not just to Lili, but to France itself.
    And, of course, to God. “What, my dear child, do you take that to mean?” the baroness asked, putting the proper upward inflection on the last word, to convey that she expected the pleasant reply that was the mark of good conversation.
    “Sister Thérèse says it means that we must show our disapproval of sinners, as a way of urging them back to the church,” Lili said. “Since that is the only way to salvation, she says we help save the souls of those we love when we reject their bad ideas and behavior, even if they don’t appreciate our efforts.”
    “And what is your response to that?”
    “I find it hard to argue against that logic,” Lili said, shrugging her shoulders.
    “My dear girl, finding something to argue with in anything is most unattractive.” The baroness rang a small bell, and the servant appeared immediately. “You may bring us our eggs,” she said, before turning back to Lili. “A young lady is not to follow personal logic, but to accept what the church teaches, and learn it well. A proper girl is always thinking of the impression she is making. You may not be aware of it, but good families are already watching girls your age to see who might make a suitable match for their sons in a few years time.”
    “Oui, madame. I only meant that I had arrived at the same conclusion as Sister Thérèse,” Lili lied. “I am sorry I phrased myself so poorly.”
    “Phrasing is an essential part of gracious communication,” Baronne Lomont went on. “You must ask yourself whom your wordsmay offend, and take pains not to do so. Women considered charming rarely reveal their thoughts. That is because their real pleasure comes from making the men with whom they are conversing sound intelligent even when they are not. You will be most praised for your conversation when you let others speak and do not force attention on yourself.” Baronne Lomont removed the top of a soft-boiled egg with a single, almost noiseless flick of her knife. “Do you see how just one tap should suffice?”
    Lili banged the egg harder than necessary, and the top broke off in a jagged tear, splattering tiny beads of yolk on her hand. A grimace flashed across the baroness’s usually expressionless face. Pursing her lips, Lili dabbed at her fingers with her napkin in a show of what she hoped was exquisite delicacy.
    I’m being impossible again, Lili thought with a mixture of pride and chagrin. Maybe she’ll give up on me. She held her napkin to her lips so she could smile without being noticed. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
    “ WAS YOUR VISIT with the baroness pleasant?” Julie de Bercy asked that afternoon at dinner.
    Delphine snickered.
    “I hate going there,” Lili said with a ferocious shake of her head.
    “Ahhh.”