"Yes, to be sure, I see her in the morning, but always in the presence of her aunt and three or four old mummies who would deprive the most impassioned lover of all desire to make love. Besides, Pélagie is very shy; how can you expect her to describe her sentiments before people?" "Why, my dear, you ought to divine them easily enough from the hints she lets fall." "My dear girl, at the point we have reached I cannot be content with hints; I want something positive; in short, I want to know what sort of a person I have to do with." "But you are allowed to talk freely enough, I should think." "Ha! ha! that is delicious! but I tell you again, it isn't enough for me." "In the evening, you always sit beside her; you can whisper to her and squeeze her hand." "My poor Amélie, you make me laugh with your provincial privileges; a man has much greater ones in Paris with young women he isn't proposing to marry." "So much the worse for the girls in Paris, brother." "Or so much the better, for, after all, severity overdone is often harmful; when the principles of virtue are once engraved on a girl's mind, I don't see why she should not be allowed a reasonable degree of liberty; those who would make missteps would surely have done it later; but those who would always behave themselves, and would not abuse the privilege of listening to foolish talk, they, my dear Amélie, would bring with them, when they marry, a guarantee of their virtue; for you will agree that there is no great merit in being innocent when it is impossible to be anything else." "Oh! what ideas you have about women, brother! It is easy to see that you have been spoiled in Paris." "I have much less narrow ideas than yours as to the training of girls, sister; for example, I strongly approve the English method, by which they are allowed to do whatever they choose before marriage. In London, an unmarried girl goes out alone to call on her friends and acquaintances. She may go to a concert or theatre with a young man, without arousing the suspicion that he is her lover. She goes to balls without a mentor; and in society she may laugh and talk and lead the conversation, without being called to order by her parents. But when she is once married, there's a great difference; she must lead an orderly, quiet life, devoted entirely to the care of her household and her children; she goes out only with her husband, receives no men except in his presence, and at parties and receptions consorts with persons of her own sex, who, like herself, refrain from joining the men, whom they generally leave at table after dinner to drink and tell stories. Well! do you think that such a very bad system? For my part, I am convinced that there are fewer deceived husbands in England than in France." "Bah! they are deceived there before marriage, that's all the difference." "And here, after marriage." "Brother!" "Oh! don't be angry; I didn't mean that for you." "Well! what is the point of your remarks?"