It is a sad day indeed for this household, but the Lord's
will be done. He knows best, and He will not send any of us more than we
are able to bear," replied Pere Yvon, as he went on his sad mission to
the old baroness.
As he had said, he had broken many sorrows to her, but he had never had
to deal a heavier blow than when he told her her favourite son was
drowned, the son of whom she was so proud, whom she loved better than
all her other children; but the baroness was a saintly woman, and one of
her first sayings after she heard the news was, "Mon pere, it is hard,
but it is just--he was my idol."
She did not grieve in any extravagant way; she did not absent herself
from any meals; she attended mass, for she was a devout Catholic, in the
private chapel every morning, and, indeed, spent a great deal of time
there in prayer; she never gave up one of her accustomed duties, visited
the poor as regularly as ever, but from the day she heard the sad news
to her death, which happened a few years later, she was scarcely seen
to smile again, and she was never heard to mention Leon's name except to
Pere Yvon. Hers was a life-long sorrow, too deep for words, too deep for
even tears to assuage its poignancy; her heart was broken; she had no
further interest in this life; all her hopes were centred on that life
where she hoped to meet her darling son again, never to be separated
from him.
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