renew the conversation.

"So am I," she answered with a gesture full of childlike gaiety.
"Don't forget to call her Madame la duchesse, and to speak to her in
the third person. The young people of the present day have lost these
polite manners; you must learn them; do that for my sake. Besides, it
is such good taste to respect women, no matter what their age may be,
and to recognize social distinctions without disputing them. The
respect shown to established superiority is guarantee for that which
is due to you. Solidarity is the basis of society. Cardinal Della
Rovere and Raffaelle were two powers equally revered. You have sucked
the milk of the Revolution in your academy and your political ideas
may be influenced by it; but as you advance in life you will find that
crude and ill-defined principles of liberty are powerless to create
the happiness of the people. Before considering, as a Lenoncourt, what
an aristocracy ought to be, my common-sense as a woman of the people
tells me that societies can exist only through a hierarchy. You are
now at a turning-point in your life, when you must choose wisely. Be
on our side,--especially now," she added, laughing, "when it
triumphs."

I was keenly touched by these words, in which the depth of her
political feeling mingled with the warmth of affection,--a combination
which gives to women so great a power of persuasion; they know how to
give to the keenest arguments a tone of feeling. In her desire to
justify all her husband's actions Henriette had foreseen the
criticisms that would rise in my mind as soon as I saw the servile
effects of a courtier's life upon him. Monsieur de Mortsauf, king in
his own castle and surrounded by an historic halo, had, to my eyes, a
certain grandiose dignity. I was therefore greatly astonished at the