First Part Chapter 40

The Comte de Maucombe is fishing for the title of Marquis for himself; but keep
your good services for me, please. When Louis is a deputy--next winter
that is--we shall come to Paris, and then we will move heaven and
earth to get some Government appointment for him, so that we may be
able to save our income by living on his salary. My father sits
between the centre and the right; a title will content him. Our family
was distinguished even in the days of King Rene, and Charles X. will
hardly say no to a Maucombe; but what I fear is that my father may
take it into his head to ask some favor for my younger brother. Now,
if the marquisate is dangled out of his reach, he will have no
thoughts to spare from himself.

January 15th. Ah! Louise, I have been in hell. If I can bear to tell you of my
anguish, it is because you are another self; even so, I don't know
whether I shall ever be able to live again in thought those five
ghastly days. The mere word "convulsions" makes my very heart sick.
Five days! to me they were five centuries of torture. A mother who has
not been through this martyrdom does not know what suffering is. So
frenzied was I that I even envied you, who never had a child

! The evening before that terrible day the weather was close, almost
hot, and I thought my little Armand was affected by it. Generally so
sweet and caressing, he was peevish, cried for nothing, wanted to
play, and then broke his toys. Perhaps this sort of fractiousness is
the usual sign of approaching illness with children. While I was
wondering about it, I noticed Armand's cheeks flush, but this I set
down to teething, for he is cutting four large teeth at once. So I put
him to bed beside me, and kept constantly waking through the night. He
was a little feverish, but not enough to make me uneasy, my mind being
still full of the teething.