Without undue affectation of piety, Madame de Santos gives liberally.
The good nuns strive to fit the young heiress for her dazzling
future.
Keenly curious of the dangers of the situation, Natalie writes Hardin
that she has sent her own child away to a country institution, to
prevent awkward inquiry. As months roll on, drawn in by the whirlpool
of pleasure, Natalie de Santos' letters become brief. They are only
statements of affairs to her absent "financial agent."
Hardin's letters are acknowledgments of satisfactory news, and
directions regarding the education of the child. He does not refer
to the future of the woman who ruled his home so long. No tenderness
for his own child appears. He is engrossed in BUSINESS, and she in
PLEASURE. Avarice is the gentlemanly passion of his later years.
"Royal days of every pleasure" for the brilliant woman; she,
ambitious and self-reliant, lives only for the happy moments.
And yet, as Natalie de Santos sweeps from palace ball or the opera,
she frames plans as to the future control of Hardin. To keep the
child he fears, where his agency can reach her, is her aim. To
place the child he would ignore, where millions will surround her,
is her ambition.
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