"But do say something!" he implored; "let us think matters over
together. Is there really no hope left us?"
"None, you know very well," she replied; "you explained the situation
yourself just now; we have no help to expect from anyone; even our
children have betrayed us."
"Let us flee, then. Shall we leave Plassans to-night--immediately?"
"Flee! Why, my dear, to-morrow we should be the talk of the whole town.
Don't you remember, too, that you have had the gates closed?"
A violent struggle was going on in Pierre's mind, which he exerted to
the utmost in seeking for some solution; at last, as though he felt
vanquished, he murmured, in supplicating tones: "I beseech you, do try
to think of something; you haven't said anything yet."
Felicite raised her head, feigning surprise; and with a gesture of
complete powerlessness she said: "I am a fool in these matters. I don't
understand anything about politics, you've told me so a hundred times."
And then, as her embarrassed husband held his tongue and lowered his
eyes, she continued slowly, but not reproachfully: "You have not kept me
informed of your affairs, have you? I know nothing at all about them, I
can't even give you any advice. It was quite right of you, though; women
chatter sometimes, and it is a thousand times better for the men to
steer the ship alone."
She said this with such refined irony that her husband did not detect
that she was deriding him. He simply felt profound remorse.
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