Jacqueline gained her point so far; but painful difficulties still
remained, the story of which she herself has also told us. {61} While
eager to be admitted to the full privileges of her vocation, she did not
wish to enter Port Royal empty-handed. She thought herself free to endow
it with the share of her father’s fortune which had fallen to her, and
seems not to have doubted her brother’s and sister’s concurrence in this
act of liberality. But they, on the contrary, were both for a time
deeply offended that she should apparently prefer strangers to her own
kindred. They took the matter “in an entirely secular manner.” This
greatly grieved her in turn; and, balked at once in her wishes and her
sisterly trust, she pictures in the most lively colours the distress she
endured. La Mère Agnès consoled her in her disappointment, and sought to
carry her thoughts beyond the mere chagrin which so obviously mingled
with her higher feeling. Her own somewhat resentful obstinacy gradually
yielded to the pure passivity of resignation—so strong in its seeming
weakness—which the sister of Arnauld preached to her. At length she is
content to make no further demands upon her brother. He and Madame
Périer shall do as they wish; the money would not be blessed unless it
came from free hearts, and was given for the love of God. She is willing
even to be received gratuitously as a sister—a feeling evidently not
without its bitterness. Her submission became, as may be guessed, her
triumph; a result probably not unforeseen by the deeper experience of La
Mère Agnès and M. Singlin.
When her brother—“he who had most interest in the affair”—at last came to
see her, she endeavoured to meet him as the Mother advised. “But, with
all her effort” she could not hide the sadness of her heart.
“This,” she says, “was so unlike my usual manner, that he perceived
it at once; and there was no need of an interpreter to explain the
cause, for though I put on the best face I could, he easily guessed
that it was his own conduct which was the cause of my uneasiness.
All the same, he was desirous of making the first complaint; and then
I learned that both he and my sister felt themselves much aggrieved
by what I had written. He dwelt on this, but could hardly go on,
seeing I made no complaint on my side. Otherwise, I could have
destroyed by a single word all his reasons!”
A true family trait! The result of all was, that Pascal yielded to the
tender resignation of his sister what he had refused to her arguments.
He was so “touched,” she says, “with confusion, that he resolved to put
the whole affair in order,” and to undertake himself any risks or charges
that it might involve.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account