“I! Heaven forbid. Let others act the part of a jealous husband, not I. But I am annoyed.”
“All these things you reproach your wife with are perfectly innocent, and, so long as you have nothing of greater importance——”
“Yet, listen; without being very blamable, a woman can excite a good deal of uneasiness. Certain visitors may be received, certain preferences shown, which expose young women to remark, and which are enough to drive out of their senses even those husbands who are least disposed to be jealous.”
“Ah! now we are coming to the real point at last, and not without some difficulty. You speak of frequent visits, and certain preferences—very good; for the last hour we have been beating about the bush, and at last you have broached the true question. This is more serious than I thought. It is possible, then, that Madame can have given you grounds for these complaints against her?”
“Precisely so.”
“What, your wife, married only four days ago, prefers some other person to yourself? Take care, Philip, you exaggerate your grievances; in wishing to prove everything, you prove nothing.”
The prince, bewildered by his mother’s serious manner wished to reply, but he could only stammer out some unintelligible words.
“You draw back, then?” said Anne of Austria. “I prefer that, as it is an acknowledgment of your mistake.”
“No!” exclaimed Philip, “I do not draw back, and I will prove all I asserted. I spoke of preference and of visits, did I not? Well, listen.”
Anne of Austria prepared herself to listen, with that love of gossip which the best woman living and the best mother, were she a queen even, always finds in being mixed up with the petty squabbles of a household.