o the customs and fashions of Society."

"Do you wish that I should display my shape like those indecent women
who wear gowns so low that impudent eyes can stare at their bare
shoulders and their--"

"There is a difference, my dear," said her husband, interrupting her,
"between uncovering your whole bust and giving some grace to your dress.
You wear three rows of net frills that cover your throat up to your
chin. You look as if you had desired your dressmaker to destroy the
graceful line of your shoulders and bosom with as much care as a
coquette would devote to obtaining from hers a bodice that might
emphasize her covered form. Your bust is wrapped in so many folds that
every one was laughing at your affectation of prudery. You would be
really grieved if I were to repeat the ill-natured remarks made on your
appearance."

"Those who admire such obscenity will not have to bear the burthen if we
sin," said the lady tartly.

"And you did not dance?" asked Granville.

"I shall never dance," she replied.

"If I tell you that you ought to dance!" said her husband sharply. "Yes,
you ought to follow the fashions, to wear flowers in your hair, and
diamonds. Remember, my dear, that rich people--and we are rich--are
obliged to keep up luxury in the State. Is it not far better to
encourage manufacturers than to distribute money in the form of alms
through the medium of the clergy?"

"You talk as a statesman!" said Angelique.

"And you as a priest," he retorted.

The discussion was bitter. Madame de Granville's answers, though
spoken very sweetly and in a voice as clear as a church bell, showed
an obstinacy that betrayed priestly influence. When she appealed to
the rights secured to her by Granville's promise, she added that her
director specially forbade her going to balls; then her husband pointed
out to her that the priest was overstepping the regulations of the
Church.

This odious theological dispute was renewed with great violence and
acerbity on both sides when Granville proposed to take his wife to the
play. Finally, the lawyer, whose sole aim was to defeat the pernicious
influence exerted over his wife by her old confessor, placed the
question on such a footing that Madame de Granville, in a spirit of
defiance, referred it by writing to the Court of Rome, asking in so many
words whether a woman could wear low gowns and go to the play and to
balls without compromising her salvation.

The reply of the venerable