Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/250

172 day, then, Madame de Piennes went to see her protégée whom she found very weak, very much depressed, but nevertheless more calm and resigned than she had expected. She talked of M. de Salligny, but with more consideration than the day before. Arsène, in truth, ought absolutely to give him up and no longer to think of him but to deplore their mutual blindness. She ought further, and it was a part of her repentance, she ought to show her penitence to Max himself, to set him the example of a changed life, and to secure for his future the peace of conscience which she herself enjoyed. To these Christian exhortations Madame de Piennes did not fail to add certain worldly arguments, such as, for example, that Arsène, truly loving M. de Salligny, ought to wish for his welfare above all things, and that by her change of conduct she would merit the esteem of a man who had not really as yet been able to accord it to her. Anything severe or sorrowful in her discourse was suddenly effaced when Madame de Piennes in finishing announced to her that she would see Max again and that he would soon be there. At the lively colour which suddenly suffused her cheeks, so long pale from suffering, at the extraordinary brilliancy of her eyes, Madame de Piennes almost repented of giving her consent