They wished
to enjoy life, unburdened by offspring, while they were young. As for
what might happen in five or six years' time, that, of course, was
another matter. Nevertheless, Madame Angelin could not help being struck
by the delightful picture which Marianne, so fresh and gay, presented
with her plump little babe at her breast in that white bed amid the
bright sunshine.
At last she remarked: "There's one thing. I certainly could not feed a
child. I should have to engage a nurse for any baby of mine."
"Of course!" her husband replied. "I would never allow you to feed it. It
would be idiotic."
These words had scarcely passed his lips when he regretted them and
apologized to Marianne, explaining that no mother possessed of means was
nowadays willing to face the trouble and worry of nursing.
"Oh! for my part," Marianne responded, with her quiet smile, "if I had a
hundred thousand francs a year I should nurse all my children, even were
there a dozen of them. To begin with, it is so healthful, you know, both
for mother and child: and if I didn't do my duty to the little one I
should look on myself as a criminal, as a mother who grudged her
offspring health and life.
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