“ ‘No. As I said, he is always agreeable to my friends.’
“From that day my courting became much more assiduous. The woman did not please me any more than before, but the probable jealousy of her husband tempted me greatly.
“As for her, I judged her coolly and clearly. She had a certain worldly charm, due to a quick, gay, amiable, and superficial mind, but no real, deep attraction. She was, as I have already said, nervous, all on the surface and very elegant. How can I explain myself? She was … a decoration, not a home.
“One day, after taking dinner with her, her husband said to me, just as I was leaving: ‘My dear friend’ (he now called me ‘friend’), ‘we soon leave for the country. It is a great pleasure for my wife and myself to receive the people whom we like. We would like to have you spend a month with us. It would be very nice of you to do so.’
“I was dumbfounded, but I accepted.
“A month later I arrived at their estate of Vertcresson, in Touraine. They were waiting for me at the station, two miles from the château. There were three of them, she, the husband, and a gentleman unknown to me, the Comte de Morterade, to whom I was introduced. He appeared to be delighted to make my acquaintance, and the strangest ideas passed through my mind while we trotted along the beautiful road between two hedges of green. I was saying to myself: ‘Let’s see, what can this mean? Here is a husband who cannot doubt that his wife and I are on more than friendly terms, and yet he invites me to his house, receives me like an old friend, and seems to say: “Go ahead, my friend, the road is clear!” ’
“Then I am introduced to a very pleasant gentleman, who seems already to have settled down in the house, and … and who is perhaps trying to get out of it, and who seems as pleased at my arrival as the husband himself.
“Is it some former lover who wishes to retire? One might think so. But, then, would these two men tacitly have come to one of those infamous little arrangements so common in society? And without consulting me, it is proposed that I shall quietly enter into the association and take up the succession. All hands and arms are held out to me. All doors and hearts are open to me.
“And she? An enigma. She cannot be ignorant of everything. However? … however? … there it is … I am quite at sea!
“The dinner was very gay and friendly. On leaving the table the husband and his friend began to play cards, while I went out on the steps to look at the moonlight with Madame. She seemed to be greatly moved by nature, and I judged that the moment of my happiness was near. That evening she was really delightful. The country seemed to make her more tender, or rather more languishing. Her long, slender figure looked pretty on this stone step beside a great vase in which grew some flowers. I felt like taking her out under the trees, throwing myself at her feet, and speaking to her words of love.
“Her husband’s voice called: ‘Louise?’
“ ‘Yes, my dear.’
“ ‘You are forgetting the tea.’
“ ‘I am coming, dear.’
“We returned to the house, and she served tea. The two men, having finished their game of cards, were obviously sleepy. We had to go to our rooms. I did not get to sleep till late, and then I slept badly.
“An excursion was decided upon for the following afternoon, and we went in an open carriage to visit some ruins. She and I were in the back of the vehicle and they were opposite us, with their backs to the driver. The conversation was animated, agreeable and unconstrained. I am an orphan, and it seemed to me as though I had just found my family, I felt so much at home with them.
“Suddenly, as she had stretched out her foot between her husband’s legs, he murmured reproachfully: ‘Louise, please don’t use up your old shoes yourself. There is no reason for being neater in Paris than in the country.’
“I looked down. She was indeed wearing worn-out shoes, and I noticed that her stockings were not pulled up tightly.
“She had blushed and hidden her foot under her dress. The friend was looking out in the distance, with an indifferent and unconcerned look.
“The husband offered me a cigar, which I accepted. For a few days it was impossible for me to be alone with her for two minutes; he was with us everywhere. He was delightful to me.
“One morning he came to get me to take a walk before lunch, and the conversation happened to turn on marriage. I spoke a little about solitude, and about how charming life can be made by a woman. Suddenly he interrupted me, saying: ‘My boy, don’t talk about things you know nothing about. A woman who has no further reason for loving you will not love you for long. All the little coquetries which make them so exquisite when they do not definitely belong to us cease as soon as they become ours. And then … the respectable women … that is to say, our wives … are … are not … they lack … do not understand their business as women. Do you understand?’
“He said no more, and I could not exactly guess his thoughts.
“Two days after this conversation he called me to his room quite early in order to show me a collection of engravings. I sat in an easy-chair opposite the big door which separated his apartment from his wife’s, and behind this door I heard someone walking and moving, and I was thinking very little of the engravings, although I kept exclaiming: ‘Oh, charming! delightful! exquisite!’
“He suddenly said: ‘Oh, I have a beautiful specimen in the next room. I’ll go get it.’
“He ran to the door quickly, and both sides opened as though for a theatrical
