When Madame Valmondé drives over to see Désirée and her baby for the first time in a month, she remembers when Désirée herself was a baby. Her husband had found Désirée sleeping next to a pillar as he rode through the gateway of the Valmondé home in southern Louisiana. No one knew where she came from or who put her there. The Valmondés adopted and reared her.
.......That was eighteen years before. Désirée is now a “beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere” young lady,” the narrator says. Armand Aubigny had known her since he was eight, when his father brought him to America from Paris after his mother died. But it was not until he saw her when she was a fully grown young lady that he fell in love with her. At the time, he was riding by the Valmondé residence while she was in front of the house.
.......“The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles,” the narrator says.
.......Not long afterward, they became husband and wife.
.......When Madame Valmondé arrives at the stuccoed Aubigny home, its appearance unsettles her, as it always does.
.......“The roof came down steep and black like a cowl,” the narrator says, and the shade of oak trees surrounding the dwelling suggested that it was a tomb rather than a house. The Negroes who man the place are dispirited, for Armand is a demanding master. When his father was in charge, they were in high spirits.
.......When Madame Valmondé enters the house, Désirée is on a couch holding the baby. It is asleep. Standing at a window is the baby's nurse, Zandrine. Madame is surprised at how the child, a boy, has grown. Désirée tells her mother that Armand is pleased with the child—so much so that his mood has lightened and he no longer punishes any of the Negroes. His happiness makes Désirée happy, for she is deeply in love with him.
.......But when the baby is three months old, a dark spirit descends over Armand. He is sullen and stern.

Tags

See All Tags (0)