perfidy with some
one who is assuredly not so wicked as you.

What a pity it is that you are not a woman! It would give me so much
pleasure to discuss the new coiffures with you! I never saw anything
so extravagant as their height. At least, Marquis, remember that if
Madame la Presidente does not wear one of them incessantly, you can no
longer remain attached to her with decency.

LI

The Parts Men and Women Play

So the affair has been decided! Whatever I may say of it, you are the
master of Madame la Presidente; a beloved rival has been sacrificed
for you and you triumph.

How prompt your vanity is to make profit out of everything. I would
laugh heartily if your pretended triumph should end by your receiving
notice to quit some fine morning. For it may well be that this
sacrifice of which you boast so much is nothing but a stratagem.

Ever since you have been associated with women, have you not
established as a principle that you must be on your guard against the
sentiments they affect? If your beauty had accepted you merely for the
purpose of re-awakening a languishing love in the heart of her
Celadon; if you were only the instrument of jealousy on the part of
one and artifice on the other, would that be a miracle?

You say that Madame la Presidente is not very shrewd, and consequently
incapable of such a ruse. My dear Marquis, love is a great tutor, and
the most stupid women (in other respects) have often an acute
discernment, more accurate and more certain than any other, when it
comes to an affair of the heart. But let us leave this particular
thesis, and examine men in general who are in the same situation as
you.

They all believe as you do, that the sacrifice of a rival supposes
some superiority over him. But how often does it happen that this same
sacrifice is only a by play? If it is sincere, the woman either loved
the rival or she did not. If she loved him, then as soon as she leaves
him, it is a sure proof that she loves him no longer, in which case
what glory is there for you in such a preference? If she did not love
him, what can you infer to your advantage from a pretended victory
over a man who was indifferent to her?

There is also another case where you may be preferred, without that
preference being any more flattering. It is when the vanity of the
woman you attack is stronger than her inclination for the disgraced
lover. Your rank, your figure, your reputation, your fortune, may