She acknowledged to the duke and Canalis her distaste for obedience, and professed to regard it as an obstacle to her marriage; thus investigating the nature of her suitors, after the manner of those who dig into the earth in search of metals, coal, tufa, or water.
"I shall never," she said, the evening before the day on which the family were to move into the villa, "find a husband who will put up with my caprices as my father does; his kindness never flags.

I am sure no one will ever be as indulgent to me as my precious mother." "They know that you love them, mademoiselle," said La Briere.
"You may be very sure, mademoiselle, that your husband will know the full value of his treasure," added the duke.
"You have spirit and resolution enough to discipline a husband," cried Canalis, laughing.
Modeste smiled as Henri IV.

must have smiled after drawing out the characters of his three principal ministers, for the benefit of a foreign ambassador, by means of three answers to an insidious question.
On the day of the dinner, Modeste, led away by the preference she bestowed on Canalis, walked alone with him up and down the gravelled space which lay between the house and the lawn with its flower-beds.
From the gestures of the poet, and the air and manner of the young heiress, it was easy to see that she was listening favorably to him.
The two demoiselles d'Herouville hastened to interrupt the scandalous tete-a-tete; and with the natural cleverness of women under such circumstances, they turned the conversation on the court, and the distinction of an appointment under the crown,--pointing out the difference that existed between appointments in the household of the king and those of the crown.

They tried to intoxicate Modeste's mind by appealing to her pride, and describing one of the highest stations to which a woman could aspire.
"To have a duke for a son," said the elder lady, "is an actual advantage.

The title is a fortune that we secure to our children without the possibility of loss." "How is it, then," said Canalis, displeased at his tete-a-tete being thus broken in upon, "that Monsieur le duc has had so little success in a matter where his title would seem to be of special service to him ?" The two ladies cast a look at Canalis as full of venom as the tooth of a snake, and they were so disconcerted by Modeste's amused smile that they were actually unable to reply.
"Monsieur le duc has never blamed you," she said to Canalis, "for the humility with which you bear your fame; why should you attack him for his modesty ?" "Besides, we have never yet met a woman worthy of my nephew's rank," said Mademoiselle d'Herouville.