"Yes, monsieur, yes, I do believe it; indeed, I haven't the least doubt of it; but let me finish, I beg.--Well! if I were weak enough, foolish enough--let us not mince words--to cease to resist, then, in a month, or two months, say three months, if you choose, you would have had enough of your little grisette; she would bore you, and you would cease to see her; more than that, you would avoid her as zealously as you now seek her. So the girl is abandoned by the man to whom she sacrificed everything, whose oaths she believed! And that man, after making her unaccustomed to work by a life of idleness and dissipation, leaves her, in most cases, with no resource against destitution! But even that is not all! If the girl alone were unhappy, that would be much, no doubt, but still she alone would be punished for her fault. It is not always so. Often, too often, a wretched child is born of that passing connection. Then the poor girl, who can hardly support herself by her labor, has no means of supporting her child! Isn't that horrible? Ought not one to shrink in dismay from such a terrible future?" "Oh! mademoiselle, you are imagining chimeras! You are romancing!" "No, monsieur, I am not romancing; I am simply stating what is seen, what happens every day! And you yourself, monsieur, who claim that I am inventing chimeras, be frank, if such a thing is possible, and tell me if you never seduced and then abandoned a girl in the situation I have just sketched? Think over your life, your love affairs, your numerous conquests, and tell me, monsieur, if you are quite sure that such a thing never happened to you?" Monsieur de Mardeille changed color; he rose, with a sullen expression on his face, and paced the floor, muttering: "Mon Dieu! mademoiselle, my numerous conquests, my adventures, aren't in question here. I can't go over everything that has happened to me; it would take too long. Besides, I don't remember." "Say, rather, that you don't choose to remember." "In heaven's name, let us drop this and return to you. According to what you have said, if I understand you, you will not yield to anyone----" "Until he has placed me in such a position that I need have no fear of poverty, and that I can support and educate my child--if I should have one. Yes, monsieur, that is my firm and irrevocable resolution, and I promise you that I shall not change." The dandified neighbor made a horrible grimace, and continued to pace the floor, mumbling: "The devil! the devil! you look ahead, mademoiselle; you take your precautions." "Is that forbidden, monsieur?" "No; but it's very uncommon--luckily. For you, love, sentiment, a man's attractions--everything that ordinarily captivates a young girl glides over your heart without stirring it. Sensibility is not your strong point." "Do you think so? And are you yourself so very sensitive, monsieur?" "I am--to your charms, most assuredly. But my love does not touch you; you are very cruel to me."