astonishment, with the inquisitive gaze of women
who wish to know everything, that eye which women have who are no longer
very young, in which complicated, and often malicious curiosity is
reflected, and she asked:
"How so?"
"Oh! that is a long story," he replied; "a rather sad and unpleasant
story."
"My old friends were often surprised at the coldness which suddenly
sprang up between one of my best friends, whose Christian name was
Julien, and myself. They could not understand how two such intimate and
inseparable friends as we had been could suddenly become almost
strangers to one another, and I will tell you the reason of it.
"He and I used to live together at one time. We were never apart, and
the friendship that united us seemed so strong that nothing could break
it.
"One evening when he came home, he told me that he was going to get
married, and it gave me a shock as if he had robbed me or betrayed me.
When a man's friend marries, it is all over between them. The jealous
affection of a woman, that suspicious, uneasy, and carnal affection,
will not tolerate that sturdy and frank attachment, that attachment of
the mind, of the heart, and mutual confidence which exists between two
men.
"You see, however great the love may be that unites them, a man and a
woman are always strangers in mind and intellect; they remain
belligerants, they belong to different races. There must always be a
conqueror and a conquered, a master and a slave; now the one, now the
other--they are never two equals. They press each other's hands, those
hands trembling with amorous passion; but they never press them with a
long, strong, loyal pressure, with that pressure which seems to open
hearts and to lay them bare in a burst of sincere, strong, manly
affection. Philosophers of old, instead of marrying and pro-creating
children who would abandon them as a consolation for their old age,
sought for a good, reliable friend, and grew old with him in that
communion of thought which can only exist between men.
"Well, my friend Julien married. His wife was pretty, charming, a
little, light, curly-haired, plump, bright woman, who seemed to worship
him; and at first I went but rarely to their house, as I was afraid of
interfering with their affection, and afraid of being in their way. But
somehow they attracted me to their house; they were constantly inviting
me, and seemed very fond of me. Consequently, by degrees I allowed
myself to be
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