First Part Chapter 38

THE VICOMTESSE DE L'ESTORADE TO THE BARONNE DE MACUMER
September.

My dear,--There is lying for you at Chantepleurs a full reply to the
letter you wrote me from Marseilles. This honeymoon journey, so far
from diminishing the fears I there expressed, makes me beg of you to
get my letter sent on from Nivernais.

The Government, it is said, are resolved on dissolution. This is
unlucky for the Crown, since the last session of this loyal Parliament
would have been devoted to the passing of laws, essential to the
consolidation of its power; and it is not less so for us, as Louis
will not be forty till the end of 1827. Fortunately, however, my
father has agreed to stand, and he will resign his seat when the right
moment arrives.

Your godson has found out how to walk without his godmother's help. He
is altogether delicious, and begins to make the prettiest little signs
to me, which bring home to one that here is really a thinking being,
not a mere animal or sucking machine. His smiles are full of meaning.

I have been so successful in my profession of nurse that I shall wean
Armand in December. A year at the breast is quite enough; children who
are suckled longer are said to grow stupid, and I am all for popular
sayings. You must make a tremendous sensation in Italy, my fair one with the
golden locks. A thousand loves.