THREE:Although stupid, M. Geoffrin was harmless, good, and charitable. Their only child, the Marquise de la Fert Imbault, adored her father, whom she preferred to her mother. She was a pretty, high-spirited girl, an ardent Catholic, hated her mothers atheist friends, and always declared that she had forced her into her marriage, which, although a great one, was not a happy one.One day at the end of May when she and her daughter were walking in the summer gardens, they noticed that all the shrubs were covered only with buds. Taking a long walk round the gardens and returning to the same place, they found all the buds had burst into leaf.
