“Alice, my dear, calm yourself,” she repeated. But Madame de Marthenay still sobbed. She finished with those words which she had uttered already, the words which summed up her distress: “Why am I not his widow? I should be less miserable.” “But you did not wish to be his wife,” Madame Guibert murmured gently. “Oh yes, I did, for I loved him. It was my people.” She did not accuse her mother only. But the old lady shook her head and in a lower voice she said, quite close to her ear, as she continued to stroke her cheek: “Poor little girl--you did not know how to love.” Alice attempted to protest. “No,” repeated Madame Guibert, “you did not know how to love. When you give your heart it is for ever. And love gives you strength and patience and endurance. Your mother was seeking your happiness, dear, but she was seeking it in her own way. She thought she was acting right when she turned you from my son. Don’t blame her, only blame yourself. There was no doubt that Madame Dulaurens would have yielded in the long run, to a real affection, because she loved you and would have seen the object of your love to be worthy of her approval.” She did not notice that she had drawn away her hand, and under the influence of the past she reiterated: “No, you did not want to be Marcel’s wife.” Alice was quite crushed and could only whisper, “I love him still.” Distractedly she clung to her fruitless love. In a firmer voice Madame Guibert went on: “You were afraid of life. Your parents were afraid for you. Life, Alice, does not mean just amusement and worldly excitement. To live means to feel one’s soul, all one’s soul. It means to love, to love with all one’s strength, always, to the end, and even to the point of sacrifice. You must not fear either suffering or great joy or great sorrow. They reveal our higher nature. We must take from the fleeting days the happiness that endures. The girl who marries comes to share in work and danger, not just to seek greater ease or more frivolous pleasures. In her very devotion she will find more delight. You do not know this.” Alice, encouraged, thought as she listened attentively, “Nobody ever talked to me like this before.”