This important duty was, however, quickly dispatched;
though, when she joined Madame Cheron at table, her eyes betrayed,
that she had been in tears, and drew upon her a severe reproof.
Her efforts to appear cheerful did not entirely fail when she joined
the company at the house of Madame Clairval, an elderly widow lady,
who had lately come to reside at Tholouse, on an estate of her late
husband. She had lived many years at Paris in a splendid style; had
naturally a gay temper, and, since her residence at Tholouse, had
given some of the most magnificent entertainments, that had been seen
in that neighbourhood.
These excited not only the envy, but the trifling ambition of Madame
Cheron, who, since she could not rival the splendour of her
festivities, was desirous of being ranked in the number of her most
intimate friends. For this purpose she paid her the most obsequious
attention, and made a point of being disengaged, whenever she
received an invitation from Madame Clairval, of whom she talked,
wherever she went, and derived much self-consequence from impressing
a belief on her general acquaintance, that they were on the most
familiar footing.
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