time. That was one of the ideas which he had brought with him
from his world of evil.

The truth was, however, that George would always be a suspicious
husband; nothing could ever change that fact, for there was something in
his own conscience which he could not get out, and which would make it
impossible for him to be at ease as a married man. It was the memory of
something which had happened earlier in his life before he met Lizette.
There had been one earlier experience, with the wife of his dearest
friend. She had been much younger than her husband, and had betrayed an
interest in George, who had yielded to the temptation. For several years
the intrigue continued, and George considered it a good solution of a
young man's problem. There had been no danger of contamination, for he
knew that his friend was a man of pure and rigid morals, a jealous
man who watched his wife, and did not permit her to contract those new
relations which are always dangerous. As for George, he helped in this
worthy work, keeping the woman in terror of some disease. He told her
that almost all men were infected, for he hoped by this means to keep
her from deceiving him.

I am aware that this may seem a dreadful story. As I do not want anyone
to think too ill of George Dupont, I ought, perhaps, to point out that
people feel differently about these matters in France. In judging the
unfortunate young man, we must judge him by the customs of his own
country, and not by ours. In France, they are accustomed to what is
called the MARIAGE DE CONVENANCE. The young girl is not permitted to go
about and make her own friends and decide which one of them she prefers
for her husband; on the contrary, she is strictly guarded, her training
often is of a religious nature, and her marriage is a matter of
business, to be considered and decided by her parents and those of the
young man. Now, whatever we may think right, it is humanly certain that
where marriages are made in that way, the need of men and women for
sympathy and for passionate interest will often lead to the forming of
irregular relationships after marriage. It is not possible to present
statistics as to the number of such irregular relationships in Parisian
society; but in the books which he read and in the plays which he saw,
George found everything to encourage him to think that it was a romantic
and delightful thing to keep up a secret intrigue with the wife of his
best friend.

It should a