nt took
place in winter; "how is this? Aren't you ashamed of yourself for not
adoring a little wife who is so interesting? Don't speak to me of love;
you may idolize me, as you say you do, for a certain time, but you will
never love me as you love Louise. I can see that in your heart I shall
never outweigh the interest inspired by a virtuous wife, children, and
a family circle. I should one day be deserted and become the object of
your bitter reflections. You would coldly say of me 'I have had that
woman!' That phrase I have heard pronounced by men with the most
insulting indifference. You see, monsieur, that I reason in cold blood,
and that I do not love you, because you never would be able to love me."

"What must I do then to convince you of my love?" cried the baron,
fixing his gaze on the young woman.

She had never appeared to him so ravishingly beautiful as at that
moment, when her soft voice poured forth a torrent of words whose
sternness was belied by the grace of her gestures, by the pose of her
head and by her coquettish attitude.

"Oh, when I see Louise in possession of a lover," she replied, "when I
know that I am taking nothing away from her, and that she has nothing to
regret in losing your affection; when I am quite sure that you love her
no longer, and have obtained certain proof of your indifference towards
her--Oh, then I may listen to you!--These words must seem odious to
you," she continued in an earnest voice; "and so indeed they are, but
do not think that they have been pronounced by me. I am the rigorous
mathematician who makes his deductions from a preliminary proposition.
You are married, and do you deliberately set about making love to some
one else? I should be mad to give any encouragement to a man who cannot
be mine eternally."

"Demon!" exclaimed the husband. "Yes, you are a demon, and not a woman!"

"Come now, you are really amusing!" said the young woman as she seized
the bell-rope.

"Oh! no, Emilie," continued the lover of forty, in a calmer voice. "Do
not ring; stop, forgive me! I will sacrifice everything for you."

"But I do not promise you anything!" she answered quickly with a laugh.

"My God! How you make me suffer!" he exclaimed.

"Well, and have not you in your life caused the unhappiness of more than
one person?" she asked. "Remember all the tears which have been shed
through you and for you! Oh, your passion does not inspire me with the
least pity. If you do not wish