XXXI To Madame de la Fléchère
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Bourges,
2nd February, 1619.
Only one word, my dearest Sister, for it is not long since I wrote to you, and I await good news of you. My own, thank God, is good. Our little house goes on peaceably, its good odour increasing. As to my children, I hope my daughter’s marriage with M. de Foras will soon be arranged, and that she will settle in Burgundy.A
My sonB gives me as keen a sorrow as ever a mother could suffer—the cause I will tell you when we meet. He is at court, brave and gallant as he can be, and they tell me, that he is resolved to conduct himself well and to make his fortune. My own wish is that he should do so with our good Prince, but I know not what he will do. My dear Father will help him. I am overwhelmed with letters that have to be answered, so I must conclude. O, my very dear Sister, may the great Jesus be our only love! Amen.
Notes
A This marriage never took place, for, though St. Jane Frances desired it, Françoise could not make up her mind to accept the gentleman.
B Celse Benigne, in whose character good and bad qualities were so mingled that he was at once the joy and the anguish of his mother, each time he risked the life of both his soul and body by the unfortunate duels in which he was so often engaged, nearly broke her heart. In order to avoid the seductions of Paris and the dangerous influence of his friends, the Saint was anxious to have him attached to the Court of Savoy, but her project did not find favour with the young Baron.