u are in want, he may send you a L5 note, but he
does not want to see you. He seeks the company of cheerful and happy
people only.

He has an income of L6,000 a year, and will tell you that nobody dies of
starvation except in novels.

He turns his head from wretches shivering with cold in the street, and
is of opinion that a good Government should suppress paupers and all
sorts of people who disturb the peace and happiness of the rich. His
friends call him 'a good fellow.'

The other type is execrable. The miseries of other people increase his
happiness. When he sees a starving-looking man or a sick one, he returns
thanks that he is rich and healthy.

He does not avoid the unfortunate: he almost seeks them. The more
horrible tales you tell him of poverty, sorrows, disease, wretchedness,
the happier he is to feel that he runs no danger of ever encountering
such calamities.

Well wrapped up in furs in a good carriage, the sight of a beggar,
benumbed with cold, sitting on the stone steps of an empty house,
doubles his comfort. He finds his carriage better suspended, and his
furs warmer.

He almost believes that the abject poor were invented to make him
appreciate his good fortune better. He is not unlike those fanatics of a
certain school who believe that the greatest bliss reserved for the
elect in heaven is to see their less fortunate brethren burn in hell. As
I have said, this type of selfish man is execrable.

CHAPTER XVII

EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES

THE RIGHT AND WRONG IN THE CASE OF A ROYAL PRINCESS

Since the escapade of the Royal Princess of Saxony with the French tutor
Giron, many have asked me, 'Do you approve or forgive her? Do you not
think that a woman who can no longer endure life with a sullen and
unsympathetic husband has a right to break away from the social
conventionalities of life and go her own way in search of happiness?'

The question is not easy to answer. There may be, or there may not be,
extenuating circumstances in the conduct of a woman who deserts her
husband, or a man who leaves his wife.

First of all, let me say that I place the consideration of duty far
higher than that of personal happiness. Therefore, a man or a woman who
abandons a home where there are children of a tender age, children who
require the protection of a father and the affection of a mother, which
no one can replace, is a coward that should be placed under the ban of
society.

I don't care how muc