We swear eternal
faithfulness, and declare that we desire to pass our lives with them,
and seem to await a husband's death impatiently. Let him die, and
there are some provincial women obtuse or silly or malicious enough to
say: 'Here am I, free at last.' The spent ball suddenly comes to life
again, and falls plumb in the midst of our finest triumphs or our most
carefully planned happiness. I have seen that you love Beatrix. I
leave her therefore in a position where she loses nothing of her
precious majesty; she will certainly coquet with you, if only to tease
and annoy that angel of a Camille Maupin. Well, my dear fellow, take
her, love her, you'll do me a great service; I want her to turn
against me. I have been afraid of her pride and her virtue. Perhaps,
in spite of my approval of the matter, it may take some time to effect
this /chassez-croissez/. On such occasions the wisest plan is to take
no step at all. I did, just now, as we walked about the lawn, attempt
to let her see that I knew all, and was ready to congratulate her on
her new happiness.
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