Not until the enamored youth
presumed to whisper the passion her presence had awakened in his
bosom, did she fully understand the cause of the delight she always
felt while by his side.
After Pierre had been home a few weeks, he ventured to explain to
his mother the cause of his unexpected and unannounced return. He
had disagreed with his uucle, who, in a passion, had reminded him
of his dependence. This the high-spirited youth could not bear,
and he left his uncle's house within twenty-four hours, with a fixed
resolution never to return. He had come back to the village, resolved,
he said, to lead a peasant's life of toil, rather than live with a relative
who could so far forget himself as to remind him of his dependence.
Poor Blanche was deeply grieved. All her fond hopes for her son were
at an end. She looked at his small, delicate hands and slender pro-
portions, and wept when she thought of a peasant's life of hard
labor.
A very long time did not pass before Nina made a proposition to
Blanche, that relieved, in some measure, the painful depression
under which she labored. It was this. Pierre had, from a child,
exhibited a decided talent for painting.
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