red
francs without being a sou in debt; the husband is robbed every night
with a high hand by escalade, but without burglarious breaking in.
IX.
*A married couple slept in the same bed; madame was always sick. Now
they sleep apart, she has no more headache, and her health becomes
more brilliant than ever; an alarming symptom!
X.
A woman who was a sloven suddenly develops extreme nicety in her
attire. There is a Minotaur at hand!
XI.
"Ah! my dear, I know no greater torment than not to be understood."
"Yes, my dear, but when one is--"
"Oh, that scarcely ever happens."
"I agree with you that it very seldom does. Ah! it is great happiness,
but there are not two people in the world who are able to understand
you."
XII.
*The day when a wife behaves nicely to her husband--all is over.
XIII.
I asked her: "Where have you been, Jeanne?"
"I have been to your friend's to get your plate that you left there."
"Ah, indeed! everything is still mine," I said. The following year I
repeated the question under similar circumstances.
"I have been to bring back our plate."
"Well, well, part of the things are still mine," I said. But after
that, when I questioned her, she spoke very differently.
"You wish to know everything, like great people, and you have only
three shirts. I went to get my plate from my friend's house, where I
had stopped."
"I see," I said, "nothing is left me."
XIV.
Do not trust a woman who talks of her virtue.
XV.
Some one said to the Duchess of Chaulnes, whose life was despaired of:
"The Duke of Chaulnes would like to see you once more."
"Is he there?"
"Yes."
"Let him wait; he shall come in with the sacraments." This minotauric
anecdote has been published by Chamfort, but we quote it here as
typical.
XVI.
*Some women try to persuade their husbands that they have duties to
perform towards certain persons.
"I am sure that you ought to pay a visit to such and such a man. . . .
We cannot avoid asking such and such a man to dinner."
XVII.
"Come, my son, hold yourself straight: try to acquire good manners!
Watch such and such a man! See how he w
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