The whole future of the house of Herouville is now in your hands. You
alone can know if there is in that poor abortion the stuff that can
breed a Herouville. You hear me. What think you?"
"His life on the seashore has been so chaste and so pure that nature
is sounder in him than it would have been had he lived in your world.
But so delicate a body is the very humble servant of the soul.
Monseigneur Etienne must himself choose his wife; all things in him
must be the work of nature and not of your will. He will love
artlessly, and will accomplish by his heart's desire that which you
wish him to do for the sake of your name. But if you give your son a
proud, ungainly woman of the world, a great lady, he will flee to his
rocks. More than that; though sudden terror would surely kill him, I
believe that any sudden emotion would be equally fatal. My advice
therefore is to leave Etienne to choose for himself, at his own
pleasure, the path of love. Listen to me, monseigneur; you are a great
and powerful prince, but you understand nothing of such matters.
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