having a woman in his house alarmed him, indeed, for he was afraid of
all women, having had too much experience of them in his youth; but
this one seemed to him truly maternal. And then, too, a good woman in
his house would make a change in it, which would be a desirable thing.
He would at least be left no longer at the mercy of his father, whom
he suspected of desiring his death so that he might get possession of
his money at once. His hatred and terror of his father decided him.

"Don't you think of marrying, then?" he asked, wishing to try the
ground.

The young girl laughed.

"Oh, there is no hurry," she answered.

Then, suddenly, looking at Pascal, who had raised his head, she added:

"How can I tell? Oh, I shall never marry."

But Felicite protested. When she saw her so attached to the doctor,
she often wished for a marriage that would separate her from him, that
would leave her son alone in a deserted home, where she herself might
become all powerful, mistress of everything. Therefore she appealed to
him. Was it not true that a woman ought to marry, that it was against
nature to remain an old maid?

And he gravely assented, without taking his eyes from Clotilde's face.

"Yes, yes, she must marry. She is too sensible not to marry."