"And what would be yours, you consummate villain?" asked Christian; "would you be as cruel a husband as you are an immoral bachelor? That usually happens; the bolder a poacher one has been, the more intractable a gamekeeper one becomes. What would be your system?"
"Hum! hum! you are mistaken, Bergenheim; my boyish love adventures have disposed me to indulgence. 'Debilis caro', you know! Shakespeare has translated it, 'Frailty, thy name is woman!'"
"I am a little rusty in my; Latin and I never knew a word of English.
What does that mean?"
"Upon my word, it means, if I were married and my wife deceived me, I should resign myself to it like a gentleman, considering the fragility of this enchanting sex."
"Mere boy's talk, my friend! And you, Gerfaut?"
"I must admit," replied the latter, a little embarrassed, "that I have never given the subject very much thought. However, I believe in the virtue of women."
"That is all very well, but in case of misfortune what would you do?"
"I think I should say with Lanoue: 'Sensation is for the fop, complaints for the fool, an honest man who is deceived goes away and says nothing.'"
"I partly agree with Lanoue; only I should make a little variation— instead of goes away should say avenges himself."
Marillac threw at his friend a second glance full of meaning.