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but I will need your full cooperation and obedience. If
you have any problems, and I'm sure you will in the
beginning, please come directly to me with them.
Don't trouble Pierre.
"All I need," she added, more to herself than to
me, "is for something else to depress him. He might
just end up like his younger brother."
"I don't understand," I said.
"It's not important just now," she said quickly.
Then she pulled back her shoulders and stood up. "I'm going to get dressed and then take you
shopping," she said. "Please be where I can find you
in twenty minutes."
"Yes, madame."
"I hope," she said, pausing near me to brush
some strands of hair off my forehead, "that in time
you will become comfortable addressing me as
Mother."
"I hope so, too," I said. I didn't mean it to sound
the way it did--almost a threat. She pulled herself
back a bit and narrowed her eyes before she flashed a
small, tight smile and then left to get ready to take me
shopping.
While I waited for her, I continued my tour of
the house, stopping to look in on what was my father's
office. He had placed my picture against his desk
before going up to Gisselle. There was another picture
of his father, my grandfather, I supposed, on the wall
above and behind his desk chair. In this picture, he
looked less severe, although he was dressed formally
and was gazing thoughtfully, not even the slightest
