‘You do not appear to have felt it much,’ I said, smiling. ‘Can I be expected to do so? I used to see my cousin at intervals in the presence of her parents. She was very charming—not strictly handsome, perhaps, but distinguished in appearance and innocent as a child. She would doubtless have been all I could have desired in the Baronne de Nesselrode, but I never spoke two words to her alone in my life.’ ‘Do you think she would have made you happy, then?’ ‘Ah! mademoiselle, happiness is hardly the thing we think of most in married life. Society requires so much of us, it is impossible for a husband and wife to be always together; and to feel more than a proper esteem for one another would soon prove _ennuyante_; more than that, a source of unhappiness, because it would create a longing for each other’s company which could not be gratified.’ ‘I cannot bear to hear you talk like that, monsieur. Marriage with us is meant to be the holiest and happiest state possible on earth—the fusing of two lives into one; and you speak of it as if it were only a matter of convenience, and a wife were an unpleasant necessity that the less you saw of the better.’ I spoke petulantly, for I thought if these were his real sentiments, what chance was there that he would ever cast his eyes in the direction of my modest, gentle Tessie, who, though not calculated, perhaps, to shine in the world of society, would make so sweet and true a companion for a man’s privacy. ‘Pardon,’ he replied, ‘I spoke of marriage as it is amongst us—not as it should be. But I confess to never having met with these perfect unions. I regard them as I do heaven, as something that may exist, but which I am never likely to see.’ ‘I have seen many of them. They are common enough in our country,’ I answered, thinking of my mother’s love for my dead father, and of dear Mrs. Sandilands, who had never changed her widow’s cap and gown, although she had parted with her husband ten years before. ‘So I have heard. In England people marry very early also, and on little money. That seems almost incredible to me.’ ‘Do you think, then, that money is the source of happiness, monsieur?’ ‘I have been led to believe that no _woman_ can be happy without it. When a man loses his fortune, he loses all chance of being loved; and that is a proof, is it not, that my belief is true?’ ‘But I do not admit the truth of your assertion. A woman who is worth anything, will love a man all the more for his misfortunes. She is born to share and lighten his trouble. Whilst he is prosperous, he has friends all over the world. When he is unlucky, he should always be able to turn with confidence to the true heart that beats for him at home.’ ‘Ah! mademoiselle! you are speaking now, not of women, but of angels.’ ‘Then there are plenty of people on earth that ought to be in heaven!’ ‘We have not such women in this country,’ said the Baron, musingly.