Then his mother, full of love for her son and of pride in his
achievements, took a hand, and tried to arrange a more suitable match
for him. An old friend of the family, Madame de Vesian had a
marriageable daughter. She was rich and beautiful, and her lineage was
noble. She had never seen Laperouse, and he had never seen her,
but that was an insignificant detail in France under the old Regime. If
the parents on each side thought the marriage suitable, that was
enough. The wishes of the younger people concerned were, it is true,
consulted before the betrothal, but it was often a consultation merely
in form, and under pressure. We should think that way of making
marriages most unsatisfactory; but then, a French family of position in
the old days would have thought our freer system very shocking and
loose. It is largely a matter of usage; and that the old plan, which
seems so faulty to us, produced very many happy and lasting unions,
there is much delightful French family history to prove.
Laperouse had now been many months away from Ile-de-France and the
bright eyes of Eleonore. He was extremely fond of his mother, and
anxious to meet her wishes. Moreover, he held Madame de Vesian in high
esteem, and wrote that he "had always admired her, and felt sure that
her daughter resembled her." These influences swayed him, and he gave
way; but, being frank and honest by disposition, insisted that no
secret should be made of his affair of the heart with the lady across
the sea. He wrote to Madame de Vesian a candid letter, in which he
said: -
"Being extremely sensitive, I should be the most unfortunate of men if
I were not beloved by my wife, if I had not her complete confidence, if
her life amongst her friends and children did not render her
perfectly happy. I desire one day to regard you as a mother, and to-day
I open my heart to you as my best friend. I authorise my mother to
relate to you my old love affair. My heart has always been a romance
(MON COEUR A TOUJOURS ETE UN ROMAN); and the more I sacrificed prudence
to those whom I loved the happier I was. But I cannot forget the
respect that I owe to my parents and to their wishes. I hope that in a
little while I shall be free. If then I have a favourable reply from
you, and if I can make your daughter happy and my character is
approved, I shall fly to Albi and embrace you a thousand times. I shall
not distinguish you from my mother and my sisters."
He also wrote to Monsieur de Vesian, begging him not to interfere with
the free inclinations of his daughter, and to remember that "in order
to be happy there must be no repugnance to conquer.
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