Her husband protests that she outrages one of the purest characters in
the world, but the governess interrupts by addressing the wife:--
"Madam, suspicions so odious, so senseless, are unable to wound an
honourable soul.... I reply nothing to these words, which you will
soon regret. The two years that I have been here [Charlotte Brontë
was two years with the Hégers] I have learned to know you, madam;
and if sometimes I have without complaint [see the Lagrange
passages] suffered from the vivacité de vos premiers mouvements, I
have also often been able to appreciate your goodness of heart."
"Enough, mademoiselle, enough! Believe you that you can dupe me by
your hypocrisies and base flatteries? Do you think you can impose
my silence by that pretended resignation?"
So the scene continues until Madame de Morville accuses the other of
wishing to take the affections of her husband. To this, the governess
retorts:--
"You accuse me, madam, of wishing to win the affections of M. de
Morville, and of desiring to dominate at your house? Here is my
reply."
And her reply is that she is returning to England.
"You go away!" cried Madame de Morville.... "No, no, that is a lie
or a trick!"... Madame ... fut complètement déroutée par
l'annonce du départ de Miss Mary.
The latter says she profoundly regrets if she had caused "malheurs," for
she had been the involuntary cause.
"Involuntary or not," cried Madame de Morville, "you are un
_porte-malheur_, and thus have been two years, since your arrival
here. I have said it to M. de Morville, who, par prévision without
doubt, took at once your part against me.... And on whom, then,
will that responsibility fall!... We were all happy and peaceful
before your advent here, and to-day, when you go you leave us dans
le chagrin."
To which Miss Mary retorts:--
"Ah! madame, le jour le plus malheureux de ma vie serait celui où
je quitterais votre famille avec la douloureuse conviction que mon
nom y serait maudit."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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