Sick people are apt to believe that there are places where they would be
better, countries which would cure them. There are certain spots and
memories which come back to their mind and seem to fascinate them as an
exile is fascinated by his native land, and which lull them as a child
is lulled to rest in its cradle. Just as a child's fears are calmed in
the arms of its nurse, so their hopes fly to a country, a garden, or a
village where they were born and where surely they could not die.
Renée began to think of Morimond. She kept saying to herself that if she
were once there she should get well. She felt sure, quite sure of it.
This Briche house had brought her bad luck. She had been so happy at
Morimond! And with this longing for change, the wish to move about which
invalids get, this fancy of hers grew, and became more and more
persistent. She spoke of it to her father and worried him about it. It
would not make any difference to any one, she pleaded, the refinery
would go along by itself, and M. Bernard, his manager, was trustworthy
and would see to everything, and then they could come back in the
autumn.
"When shall we start, father dear?" she kept saying, getting more and
more impatient every day.
M. Mauperin gave in at last. His daughter promised him so faithfully
that she would get well at Morimond that he began to believe it himself.
He imagined that this sick fancy was an inspiration.
"Yes, the country will perhaps do her good," said the doctor, accustomed
to these whims of dying people, who fancy that by going farther away
they will succeed in throwing death off their track.
M. Mauperin promptly arranged his business matters, and the family
started for Morimond.
The pleasure of setting off, the excitement of the journey, the nervous
force that all this gives even to people who have no strength at all,
the breeze coming in by the open window of the railway carriage kept the
invalid up as far as Chaumont. She reached there without being
overfatigued. M. Mauperin let her rest a day, and the following morning
hired the best carriage he could get in the town and they all set out
once more for Morimond. The road was bad and the journey was
disagreeable and long. It began to get warm at nine o'clock, and by
eleven the sun scorched the leather of the carriage. The horses breathed
hard, perspired, and went along with difficulty. Mme. Mauperin was
leaning back against the front cushion and dozing. M. Mauperin, seated
next his daughter, held a pillow at her back, against which she fell
after every little jolt. Every now and then she asked the time, and when
she was told she would murmur, "No later than that!"
Towards three o'clock they were getting quite near their destination;
the sky was cloudy, there was less dust, and it was cooler altogether. A
water-wagtail began to fly in front of the carriage about thirty paces
at a time, rising from the little heaps of stones. There were elm-trees
all along the road and some of the fields were fenced round. Renée
seemed to revive as one does in one's natal air. She sat up and, leaning
against the door with her chin on her hand as children do when in a
carriage, she looked out at everything. It was as though she were
breathing in all she saw. As the carriage rolled along, she said:
"Ah, the big poplar-tree at the Hermitage is broken. The little boys
used to fish for leeches in this pool--oh, there are M. Richet's rooks!"
In the little wood near the village her father had to get out and pluck
a flower for her, which he could not see and which she pointed out to
him growing on the edge of the ditch.
The carriage passed by the little inn, the first houses, the grocer's,
the blacksmith's, the large walnut-tree, the church, the watchmaker's,
who was also a dealer in curiosities, and the Pigeau farm. The
villagers were out in the fields. Some children who were tormenting a
wet cat stopped to see the carriage drive past. An old man, seated on a
bench in front of his cottage door, with a woollen shawl wrapped round
him and shivering in spite of the sun, lifted his cap. Then the horses
stopped, the carriage door was opened, and a man who was waiting in
front of the lodge lifted Mlle. Mauperin up in his arms.
"Oh, our poor young lady; she's no heavier than a feather!" he said.
"How do you do, Chrétiennot--how do you do, comrade?" said M. Mauperin,
shaking hands with the old gardener, who had served under him in his
regiment.