The Physiology of Marriage, part 3 | Page 8

she do but offer the master some fish, on
which he said to her:
"Madame, I have been living on milk for the last three years."
"Oh! Indeed!" she said again.
Can any one imagine three human beings as astonished as we were to
find ourselves gathered together? The husband looked at me with a
supercilious air, and I paid him back with a look of audacity.
Madame de T----- smiled at me and was charming to me; Monsieur de
T----- accepted me as a necessary evil. Never in all my life have I taken
part in a dinner which was so odd as that. The dinner ended, I thought

that we would go to bed early--that is, I thought that Monsieur de T-----
would. As we entered the drawing-room:
"I appreciate, madame," said he, "your precaution in bringing this
gentleman with you. You judged rightly that I should be but poor
company for the evening, and you have done well, for I am going to
retire."
Then turning to me, he added in a tone of profound sarcasm:
"You will please to pardon me, and obtain also pardon from madame."
He left us. My reflections? Well, the reflections of a twelvemonth were
then comprised in those of a minute. When we were left alone,
Madame de T----- and I, we looked at each other so curiously that, in
order to break through the awkwardness, she proposed that we should
take a turn on the terrace while we waited, as she said, until the
servants had supped.
It was a superb night. It was scarcely possible to discern surrounding
objects, they seemed to be covered with a veil, that imagination might
be permitted to take a loftier flight. The gardens, terraced on the side of
a mountain, sloped down, platform after platform, to the banks of the
Seine, and the eye took in the many windings of the stream covered
with islets green and picturesque. These variations in the landscape
made up a thousand pictures which gave to the spot, naturally charming,
a thousand novel features. We walked along the most extensive of these
terraces, which was covered with a thick umbrage of trees. She had
recovered from the effects of her husband's persiflage, and as we
walked along she gave me her confidence. Confidence begets
confidence, and as I told her mine, all she said to me became more
intimate and more interesting. Madame de T----- at first gave me her
arm; but soon this arm became interlaced in mine, I know not how, but
in some way almost lifted her up and prevented her from touching the
ground. The position was agreeable, but became at last fatiguing. We
had been walking for a long time and we still had much to say to each
other. A bank of turf appeared and she sat down without withdrawing
her arm. And in this position we began to sound the praises of mutual
confidence, its charms and its delights.
"Ah!" she said to me, "who can enjoy it more than we and with less
cause of fear? I know well the tie that binds you to another, and
therefore have nothing to fear."

Perhaps she wished to be contradicted. But I answered not a word. We
were then mutually persuaded that it was possible for us to be friends
without fear of going further.
"But I was afraid, however," I said, "that that sudden jolt in the carriage
and the surprising consequences may have frightened you."
"Oh, I am not so easily alarmed!"
"I fear it has left a little cloud on your mind?"
"What must I do to reassure you?"
"Give me the kiss here which chance--"
"I will gladly do so; for if I do not, your vanity will lead you to think
that I fear you."
I took the kiss.
It is with kisses as with confidences, the first leads to another. They are
multiplied, they interrupt conversation, they take its place; they scarce
leave time for a sigh to escape. Silence followed. We could hear it, for
silence may be heard. We rose without a word and began to walk again.
"We must go in," said she, "for the air of the river is icy, and it is not
worth while--"
"I think to go in would be more dangerous," I answered.
"Perhaps so! Never mind, we will go in."
"Why, is this out of consideration for me? You wish doubtless to save
me from the impressions which I may receive from such a walk as
this-- the consequences which may result. Is it for me--for me only--?"
"You are modest," she said smiling, "and you credit me with singular
consideration."
"Do you think so? Well, since you take it in this way, we will go in; I
demand