h neither laws nor
civilization can silence. And who shall dare to blame women? If a woman
can silence the exclusive sentiment which bids her "forsake all other"
for the man whom she loves, what is she but a priest who has lost his
faith? If a rigid mind here and there condemns Julie for a sort of
compromise between love and wifely duty, impassioned souls will lay it
to her charge as a crime. To be thus blamed by both sides shows one of
two things very clearly--that misery necessarily follows in the train of
broken laws, or else that there are deplorable flaws in the institutions
upon which society in Europe is based.

Two years went by. M. and Mme. d'Aiglemont went their separate ways,
leading their life in the world, meeting each other more frequently
abroad than at home, a refinement upon divorce, in which many a marriage
in the great world is apt to end.

One evening, strange to say, found husband and wife in their own
drawing-room. Mme. d'Aiglemont had been dining at home with a friend,
and the General, who almost invariably dined in town, had not gone out
for once.

"There is a pleasant time in store for you, _Madame la Marquise_," said
M. d'Aiglemont, setting his coffee cup down upon the table. He looked
at the guest, Mme. de Wimphen, and half-pettishly, half-mischievously
added, "I am starting off for several days' sport with the Master of
the Hounds. For a whole week, at any rate, you will be a widow in good
earnest; just what you wish for, I suppose.--Guillaume," he said to the
servant who entered, "tell them to put the horses in."

Mme. de Wimphen was the friend to whom Julie had begun the letter upon
her marriage. The glances exchanged by the two women said plainly that
in her Julie had found an intimate friend, an indulgent and invaluable
confidante. Mme. de Wimphen's marriage had been a very happy one.
Perhaps it was her own happiness which secured her devotion to Julie's
unhappy life, for under such circumstances, dissimilarity of destiny is
nearly always a strong bond of union.

"Is the hunting season not over yet?" asked Julie, with an indifferent
glance at her husband.

"The Master of the Hounds comes when and where he pleases, madame. We
are going boar-hunting in the Royal Forest."

"Take care that no accident happens to you."

"Accidents are usually unforeseen," he said, smiling.

"The carriage is ready, my Lord Marquis," said the servant.

"Madame, if I should fall a victim to the bo