"If Mlle. Helena, in encouraging me to hope that some day, when you learned to know me better, you might think me worthy to consecrate my life to you,--if Mlle. Helena was mistaken in this--" "By the way, speaking of Mlle. Helena, you must admit that she is a frightful bore." "That is true, but she is so good." "So good! Well, that did not prevent her from saying something dreadful to me about you the other day." "About me?" "Yes, she made you out such a paragon of goodness that I said to myself: 'Great Heavens, how intolerable that man must be with all his virtues. A person as perfect as that must be a frightful nuisance! And then to be always at church or engaged in charitable works, the mere idea of it is enough to make one die of ennui.' I did not say this to Mlle. Helena, but I thought it all the same. Judge then, monsieur, I, who would marry only to be as free as air and amuse myself from morning till night, to be always on the go, to be the most fashionable woman in Paris, and above all to be able to go to the masked ball at the Opera house! Oh, that ball, it sets me crazy just to think of it! Mercy! what is the use of being as rich as I am if one cannot enjoy everything and do exactly as one pleases?" "When one is as rich as you are," replied M. de Macreuse, with unblushing effrontery, "one is queen everywhere, above all in one's own home. The man you honour with your choice should, to follow out my comparison, be the prime minister of your kingdom of pleasure,--no, your chief courtier, and as such be ever submissive and eager to do your bidding. His one thought should be to save you from the slightest annoyance, and leave you only the flowers of existence. The birds of the air should not be freer than you; and if your husband understands his duty, your pleasures, your wishes, and even your slightest caprice, should be sacred to him. Is he not your slave, and you his divinity?" "Good, monsieur, that would suit me perfectly, but from what Mlle. Helena has told me about you, and from what I myself have seen--" "And what have you seen, mademoiselle?" "I have seen you giving alms to the poor and even talking with them." "Certainly, mademoiselle, and I--" "In the first place, I have a horror of poor people,--they are so loathsome in their rags they fairly turn one's stomach." "They are horrible creatures, it is true, but one has to throw them a little money now and then as one throws a bone to a starving dog to keep him from biting you. It is merely a matter of policy." "I understand, then, for I wondered how you could feel any interest in such repulsive creatures."