The Duchesse warmed up at once.--That was just the thing for me to do--that and to marry some nice girl of my own world, of which there must be an embarrassment of choice--with all the men killed in my country! "I would want such an exceptional woman, Duchesse!" "Do not look for the moon, my son--Be thankful if she has been sufficiently well brought up to have a decent conduct--the manners of the young girls now revolt me.--I try to go with the times----but these new fashions are disgusting." "Do you think a woman ought to be perfectly innocent and ignorant of life to make the marriage happy--" I asked. "The insides of the minds of young girls one is never sure of, but the _tenue_ should be correct at all costs, so that they may have something to uphold them as well as religion--which is no longer so surrounding as it used to be." "Duchesse, I want someone who would love me passionately, and whom I could passionately love." "For that, my poor boy--" and she sighed--"it is not found among young girls--these things come after one knows, and can discriminate--put them aside from your thoughts--they are temptations which one resists if one can, and at all events makes no scandals about.--Love! _Mon Dieu_, it is the song of the poets, it cannot happen in the world--with satisfaction--It must be a pain always--Do your duty to your race, and your class--and try not to mix up sentiment with it!" "There is no hope of my finding someone I could really love, then?" "I do not know--in your own country it may be--here it is the wife of someone else who holds the charm--and if it were not for _tenue_ society could not exist. "All that one must ask of the young is that they act with discretion, so that they can reach the autumn of life without scandals against their names--If the _Bon Dieu_ adds love--then they have been indeed fortunate." "But Duchesse--with your great heart--have you never loved--?" Her eyes seemed to grow beautiful and young again--they diffused a fire--. "Loved--Nicholas--! All women love once in their lives--happy for them if it has not burnt their souls in its passage--Happy if the _Bon Dieu_ has let it merge into love for humanity--" And soft tears dimmed the dark blue brilliancy. I leaned forward and kissed her hand with deep devotion--then the ancient servitor came in and she was called to a ward--but I left feeling that if there is really some barrier of family between Alathea and me--there would be no use in my appealing to the Duchesse--Sorrows she understands--and war and suffering--and self-sacrifice--Love she understands and passion--and all that appertains thereto--but all these things go to the wall before the conception of the meaning of _noblesse oblige_ which ruled when Adelaide de Mont Orgeuil--wedded the Duc de Courville-Hautevine, in the eighties! The only thing left now was to telephone to Maurice--. He came in for a few minutes just before dinner--.