The
congratulations came from the four witnesses, and the men present; the
tears were in the eyes of the Duchesse de Grandlieu and her daughter
Clotilde, who both trembled under the weight of the same thought,--
"She is launched upon the sea of life! Poor Sabine! at the mercy of a
man who does not marry entirely of his own free will."
Marriage is not wholly made up of pleasures,--as fugitive in that
relation as in all others; it involves compatibility of temper,
physical sympathies, harmonies of character, which make of that social
necessity an eternal problem. Marriageable daughters, as well as
mothers, know the terms as well as the dangers of this lottery; and
that is why women weep at a wedding while men smile; men believe that
they risk nothing, while women know, or very nearly know, what they
risk.
In another carriage, which preceded the married pair, was the Baronne
du Guenic, to whom the duchess had said at parting,--
"You are a mother, though you have only had one son; try to take my
place to my dear Sabine."
On the box of the bridal carriage sat a /chasseur/, who acted as
courier, and in the rumble were two waiting-maids.
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