Here is the second. Think of the frightful situation in which a lady of
great refinement was lately placed: she was conversing agreeably at her
country seat near Paris, when her husband’s servant came and whispered
in her ear, “Monsieur has come, madame.”
“Very well, Benoit.”
Everybody had heard the rumblings of the vehicle. It was known that the
husband had been at Paris since Monday, and this took place on
Saturday, at four in the afternoon.
“He’s got something important to say to you, madame.”
Though this dialogue was held in a whisper, it was perfectly
understood, and all the more so from the fact that the lady of the
house turned from the pale hue of the Bengal rose to the brilliant
crimson of the wheatfield poppy. She nodded and went on with the
conversation, and managed to leave her company on the pretext of
learning whether her husband had succeeded in an important undertaking
or not: but she seemed plainly vexed at Adolphe’s want of consideration
for the company who were visiting her.
During their youth, women want to be treated as divinities, they love
the ideal; they cannot bear the idea of being what nature intended them
to be.
Some husbands, on retiring to the country, after a week in town, are
worse than this: they bow to the company, put their arm round their
wife’s waist, take a little walk with her, appear to be talking
confidentially, disappear in a clump of trees, get lost, and reappear
half an hour afterward.
This, ladies, is a genuine petty trouble for a young woman, but for a
woman beyond forty, this sort of indiscretion is so delightful, that
the greatest prudes are flattered by it, for, be it known:
That women of a certain age, women on the shady side, want to be
treated as mortals, they love the actual; they cannot bear the idea of
no longer being what nature intended them to be.
Axiom.—Modesty is a relative virtue; there is the modesty of the woman
of twenty, the woman of thirty, the woman of forty-five.
Thus the author said to a lady who told him to guess at her age:
“Madame, yours is the age of indiscretion.”
This charming woman of thirty-nine was making a Ferdinand much too
conspicuous, while her daughter was trying to conceal her Ferdinand I.