You would not give your word of honor?'
"I felt a shudder, and I saw Deschartres ready to speak out.
"'I would give it!' I cried out
"'Give it, then,' said my aunt.
"'No, Mademoiselle,' said my mother's lawyer, 'don't give it.'
"'She shall give it!' cried my mother, to whom I could scarcely pardon
this infliction of torture.
"'I give it,' I replied;' and God is with me against you in this
matter.'
"'She has lied! she lies!' cried my mother. 'A bigot, a
_philosophailleuse.' She is lying and defrauding herself.'
"'Oh, as to that,' said the lawyer, laughing, 'she has the right to do
it, since she robs only herself.'
"'I will take her with her Deschartres before the justice of the peace,'
said my mother. 'I will make her take oath by Christ, by the Gospel!'
"'No, Madame,' said the lawyer, 'you will go no further in this matter;
and as for you, Mademoiselle, I beg your pardon for the annoyance I have
given you. Charged with your interests, I felt obliged to do so.'"
Eternal shame to those who make use of any authority to force the
secrets of a generous heart, cutting off from it every alternative but
that of a loathed deceit, or still more hateful, and scarcely less
guilty, betrayal!
Aurore now found herself in the hands of a woman of the people, ennobled
for a time by beauty and a true affection, but sinking, her good
inspiration gone, into the bitterest ill-temper and most vulgar
uncharity.
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