第67章

Child，you are not to take amiss what I am about to say to you.Please understand that life sometimes places cruel constraints upon our hearts，but submit we must.You are good，and you have generous qualities of soul unknown to many women who may despise you but are not to be compared with you.But reflect that mistresses are one thing and the family quite another；that beyond love lie duties；that after the age of passion comes the time when a man who wishes to be respected needs to be securely placed in a responsible station in life.My son's means are slender，and yet he is prepared to make over all his mother left him to you.If he accepts the sacrifice which you are about to make，then his honour and dignity require that，in return，he would relinquish his legacy which you would always have to fall back on should things go hard.But he cannot accept your sacrifice，because people，who do not know you，would misinterpret his acceptance which must not be allowed to reflect on the name we bear.People would not bother their heads about whether Armand loved you，whether you loved him or whether the love you have for each other meant happiness for him and rehabilitation for you.They would see only one thing，which is that Armand Duval had allowed a kept woman-forgive me，child，the things I am obliged to say to you-to sell everything she possessed for his sake.Then the day of reproaches and regrets would dawn，you can be sure of it，for you both just as it would for them，and the pair of you would have a chain around your necks which you could never break.What would you do then？Your youth would be gone，and my son's future would have been destroyed.And I，his father，would have received from only one of my children the return to which I look forward from both of them.

You are young，you are beautiful：life will heal your wounds.You have a noble heart，and the memory of a good deed done will redeem many past actions.During the six months he has known you，Armand has forgotten all about me.Four times I have written letters to him，and not once has he answered.I could have been dead for all he knew！

However determined you are to lead a different kind of existence，Armand，who loves you，will never agree to the retiring life which his modest means would force you to live，for seclusion is no state for beauty like yours.Who knows what he might do！He has already taken to gambling once，as I discovered，and without saying anything to you，as I further discovered.But in a wild moment，he could easily have lost part of what I have been putting aside this many a year for my daughter's dowry，for him，and for the peace of my old age.What might have happened once might still happen.

Besides，can you be sure that the life you'd be giving up for him would never attract you again？Are you certain that，having fallen in love with him，you would never fall in love with anyone else？And，not least，will you not suffer when you see what limitations your affair will set upon your lover's life？You may not be able to console him as he grows older if thoughts of ambition follow the dream of love.Reflect on all these matters，madame.You love Armand.Prove to him in the only way now open to you-by sacrificing your love to his future.Nothing untoward has happened thus far，but it will，and it may be much worse than I anticipate.Armand may become jealous of some man who once loved you；he may challenge him to a duel，he may fight，he may even be killed，and consider then what you would suffer as you stood before a father who would hold you accountable for the life of his son.

Finally，child，you should know the rest，for I have not told you everything：let me explain my reason for coming to Paris.I have a daughter，as I have just said.She is young，beautiful and pure as an angel.She is in love，and she too has made love the dream of her life.I did write and tell Amand all about it，but，having thoughts for no one but you，he never replied.Well，my daughter is about to be married.As the wife of the man she loves，she will enter a respectable family which requires that there should be nothing dishonourable in my house.The family of the man who is to be my son-in-law has discovered how Armand has been living in Paris，and has declared that the arrangement will be cancelled if Armand continues to live as he does at present.The future of a child of mine who has never harmed you and has every right to look forward to life with confidence，is now in your hands.