"Certainly no one would ever think that she was educated in Paris."

"Oh! she will have to form herself in good society. Would you believe that she expressed a purpose not to receive you again?"

"If my presence is unpleasant to Madame Murville, I shall be careful to avoid her."

"Nonsense! that is just what I don't propose to have, or I shall be angry with you. I mean that you shall come to the house more than ever; that is my desire and it must suffice. Are you not friendly enough to me to overlook my wife's eccentric character?"

"Oh! my attachment to you has no bounds!"

"Dear Dufresne!--Look you, to prove how much confidence I have in you, and how little heed I pay to my wife's fairy tales, I am going to confide a secret to you, and I rely on your friendship to help me in the matter."

"I am entirely devoted to you--speak."

"My friend, I love, I adore, I am mad over Madame de Geran."

"Is it possible? Why, you have only known her since last night."

"That is long enough to make me love her.--What would you have--we cannot control those things. It's a caprice, a weakness, whatever you choose to call it! But I have lost my head."

"You, Murville--such a reasonable man! and married, too!"

"Oh! my dear fellow, are married men any more virtuous than bachelors?

You know very well that the contrary is true; a man can't stick to his wife forever."

"If your wife should think as you do!"

"Oh! so far as that is concerned, I am not alarmed; my wife is virtue personified, and she does no more than her duty; for a woman--that's a very different matter."

"As to the consequences, yes; but morally, and even according to the law of nature, I consider that the fault is absolutely identical."

"You are joking! At all events, aren't the consequences everything? Is the absurdity of it the same? Will any one ever laugh at a wife whose husband has mistresses? No, nothing is ever said then, because it is considered a very common occurrence; but if a wife makes her husband a cuckold----"

"That is a very common occurrence too."

"For all that, people laugh at the poor husband and point their fingers at him!--Besides, what harm can come of the husband's infidelity? None at all. The fair ones who have yielded to him won't go about boasting of it! With a woman it is just the opposite; her lovers always ruin her reputation, either by their words, or by their actions, which never escape the eyes of curiosity and calumny. In fact, a woman who finds her husband in another woman's arms can only complain and weep; while a man who surprises his wife in _flagrante delicto_ has a right to punish the culprit; so you see, my dear fellow, that the offence is not the same, as the punishment is different."

"I see that it was we men who made the laws, and that we treated ourselves very well."

"Are you going to preach to me too? Really, Dufresne, you are almost as savagely virtuous as my wife."

"No, my dear fellow, you don't know me yet. But before a.s.sisting you, I wanted to find out whether you had fully weighed the consequences of this intrigue."

"I have weighed and calculated everything. I love Madame de Geran, and I wish to be loved in return. I feel that there is no sacrifice of which I am not capable to attain my object. Do you understand?"

"Oh! very well. Since your mind is made up, I will second you; but of course you won't reproach me for leading you on."

"No, no! On the contrary, I beg you to a.s.sist me, and to help me to conceal this intrigue from my wife's eyes."

"Don't be alarmed--leave all that to me. I will answer for all. When will you call on Madame de Geran?"

"This evening. They play cards there, of course?"

"Yes, and for rather high stakes."

"The devil! The fact is that I haven't any money. That party drained me dry."

"It is very easy to obtain some. Consols are at a very high premium.

Sell. They cannot fail to drop before long; then, as we shall have speculated in something else, and you will probably be in funds, you can buy in again. You see, it is a good thing to do from a business standpoint."

"True, you are right. But the consols are in my wife's name."

"Can't you get her to sign by telling her that you are engaged in a magnificent operation?"

"Oh, yes! she will sign, I am sure; she'll sign whatever I want her to."

"Take advantage of her compliant disposition to sell your consols; I tell you again, they are on the point of falling, and in a few days you will be able to buy the same amount with much less money. If it will be any more convenient for you, I will see to the business for you."

"You will confer a great favor on me, for I am still rather a bungler in business, and but for you I should often be embarra.s.sed."

"Don't be afraid. Act boldly. I a.s.sure you that your party last night added immensely to your credit. If you needed thirty thousand francs, you could easily obtain them."

"You delight me. I will go back to my wife. Wait for me at the cafe; I will be there very soon with the papers in question."

"I will go there. Be on your guard with your wife."

"Do you take me for a child?--I won't say adieu, my dear Dufresne."

Edouard hastened home and went up to Adeline's apartment, where he found her with her child in her arms. At sight of her husband, who was not accustomed to come home during the day, a soothing hope made her heart beat fast; she thought that it was love that led him back to her, and a smile of happiness embellished her lovely features.

Edouard was speechless in her presence; he was embarra.s.sed, he was conscious of a painful sensation; he felt that he was guilty toward her, but he did not choose to admit it even to himself.

"Is it you, my dear?" said Adeline in the sweetest of tones; "how happy I am when I see you! It happens so rarely now!--Come and kiss your daughter."

Edouard walked mechanically toward them and kissed the child with a distraught air, heedless of her infantile graces. He stood like one in a dream, unable to decide how to broach the subject that had brought him there.

"You seem distressed," said Adeline; "is anything troubling you? For heaven's sake, let me share your trouble--you have no more loving, more sincere friend than your wife."

"I know it, my dear Adeline, but nothing is troubling me. No, I am preoccupied, because I am thinking of a very important transaction in which I shall make a great deal of money."

"Always schemes, speculations--and never love, repose and happiness!"

"Oh! when we are rich--why, then--But I have a request to make of you; I want to ask you to sign a paper--it has to do with an operation that will be very profitable."

"Are you certain of that, my dear?"

"Yes, perfectly certain; it was----"

Edouard was going to say that it was Dufresne who gave him that a.s.surance, but he reflected that that would not be the best way to convince his wife, and he checked himself. Having taken from his desk all the papers that he required, he drew up a doc.u.ment by which his wife a.s.sented to the transfer of her consols, and with a trembling hand presented the pen to Adeline. She, trustful and submissive, signed the paper which he put before her, without even reading it.