“It was,” she goes on, for a woman never stops till she has told the
whole of a thing, “as if I had seen an edifice built by a fairy crumble
into ruins. Adolphe manifested not the slightest surprise. We got into
the carriage. Adolphe noticed my sadness, and asked me what the matter
was: I replied as we always do when our hearts are wrung by these petty
vexations, ‘Oh, nothing!’ Then he took his eye-glass, and stared at the
promenaders on the Champs Elysees, for we were to go the rounds of the
Champs Elysees, before taking our walk at the Tuileries. Finally, a fit
of impatience seized me. I felt a slight attack of fever, and when I
got home, I composed myself to smile. ‘You haven’t said a word about my
dress!’ I muttered. ‘Ah, yes, your gown is somewhat like Madame de
Fischtaminel’s.’ He turned on his heel and went away.
“The next day I pouted a little, as you may readily imagine. Just as we
were finishing breakfast by the fire in my room—I shall never forget
it—the embroideress called to get her money for the neckerchief. I paid
her. She bowed to my husband as if she knew him. I ran after her on
pretext of getting her to receipt the bill, and said: ‘You didn’t ask
_him_ so much for Madame de Fischtaminel’s kerchief!’ ‘I assure you,
madame, it’s the same price, the gentleman did not beat me down a
mite.’ I returned to my room where I found my husband looking as
foolish as—”
She hesitates and then resumes: “As a miller just made a bishop. ‘I
understand, love, now, that I shall never be anything more than
_somewhat like_ Madame de Fischtaminel.’ ‘You refer to her neckerchief,
I suppose: well, I _did_ give it to her,—it was for her birthday. You
see, we were formerly—’ ‘Ah, you were formerly more intimate than you
are now!’ Without replying to this, he added, ‘_But it’s altogether
moral._’
“He took his hat and went out, leaving me with this fine declaration of
the Rights of Man. He did not return and came home late at night. I
remained in my chamber and wept like a Magdalen, in the chimney-corner.
You may laugh at me, if you will,” she adds, looking at me, “but I shed
tears over my youthful illusions, and I wept, too, for spite, at having
been taken for a dupe. I remembered the dressmaker’s smile! Ah, that
smile reminded me of the smiles of a number of women, who laughed at
seeing me so innocent and unsuspecting at Madame de Fischtaminel’s! I
wept sincerely. Until now I had a right to give my husband credit for
many things which he did not possess, but in the existence of which
young married women pertinaciously believe.
“How many great troubles are included in this petty one! You men are a
vulgar set. There is not a woman who does not carry her delicacy so far
as to embroider her past life with the most delightful fibs, while
you—but I have had my revenge.”
“Madame,” I say, “you are giving this young lady too much information.”
“True,” she returns, “I will tell you the sequel some other time.”
“Thus, you see, mademoiselle,” I say, “you imagine you are buying a
neckerchief and you find a _petty trouble_ round your neck: if you get
it given to you—”
“It’s a _great_ trouble,” retorts the woman of distinction. “Let us
stop here.”
The moral of this fable is that you must wear your neckerchief without
thinking too much about it. The ancient prophets called this world,
even in their time, a valley of woe. Now, at that period, the Orientals
had, with the permission of the constituted authorities, a swarm of
comely slaves, besides their wives! What shall we call the valley of
the Seine between Calvary and Charenton, where the law allows but one
lawful wife.