"Ah! mamma," she cried, "what happiness! It's settled!"
Amazed, her head buzzing, busy with the superintendence of her ward,
Madame de Jonquiere did not understand. "What's settled, my child?" she
asked.
Then Raymonde lowered her voice, and, with a faint blush, replied: "My
marriage!"
It was now the mother's turn to rejoice. Lively satisfaction appeared
upon her face, the fat face of a ripe, handsome, and still agreeable
woman. She at once beheld in her mind's eye their little lodging in the
Rue Vaneau, where, since her husband's death, she had reared her daughter
with great difficulty upon the few thousand francs he had left her. This
marriage, however, meant a return to life, to society, the good old times
come back once more.
"Ah! my child, how happy you make me!" she exclaimed.
But a feeling of uneasiness suddenly restrained her. God was her witness
that for three years past she had been coming to Lourdes through pure
motives of charity, for the one great joy of nursing His beloved
invalids.
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