The words "I
love you" are not criminal, that is true, but their sequel frightens
us, hence we find means to dissimulate, and close our eyes to the
liabilities they carry with them.

Besides this, be on your guard; your persistence in requiring an open
avowal from the Countess, is less the work of love than a persevering
vanity. I defy you to find a mistake in the true motives behind your
insistence. Nature has given woman a wonderful instinct; it enables
her to discern without mistake whatever grows out of a passion in one
who is a stranger to her. Always indulgent toward the effects produced
by a love we have inspired, we will pardon you many imprudences, many
transports; how can I enumerate them all? All the follies of which you
lovers are capable, we pardon, but you will always find us intractable
when our self-esteem meets your own. Who would believe it? You inspire
us to revolt at things that have nothing to do with your happiness.
Your vanity sticks at trifles, and prevents you from enjoying actual
advantages. Will you believe me when I say it? You will drop your idle
fancies, to delight in the certainty that you are beloved by an
adorable woman; to taste the pleasure of hiding the extent of her love
from herself, to rejoice in its security. Suppose by force of
importunities you should extract an "I love you," what would you gain
by it? Would your uncertainty reach an end? Would you know whether you
owe the avowal to love or complaisance? I think I know women, I ought
to. They can deceive you by a studied confession which the lips only
pronounce, but you will never be the involuntary witness of a passion
you force from them. The true, flattering avowals we make, are not
those we utter, but those that escape us without our knowledge.

XXIII

Two Irreconcilable Passions in Women

Will you pardon me, Marquis, for laughing at your afflictions? You
take things too much to heart. Some imprudences, you say, have drawn
upon you the anger of the Countess, and your anxiety is extreme. You
kissed her hand with an ecstasy that attracted the attention of
everybody present. She publicly reprimanded you for your indiscretion,
and your marked preference for her, always offensive to other women,
has exposed you to the railleries of the Marquise, her sister-in-law.
Dear me, these are without contradiction terrible calamities! What,
are you simple enough to believe that you are lost beyond salvation
because of an outw