“Dear me!” murmured he at length, “these authors exaggerate; adultery is very rare amongst educated people. A woman who comes from a good family, has in her soul a flower—”
He was for grand sentiments, he uttered the word “ideal” with an emotion which brought a mist to his eyes. And he said that the Abbé Mauduit was right when the latter spoke of the necessity for the wife and mother having some religious belief. The conversation was thus brought back to religion and politics, at the point where these gentlemen had previously left it. The Church would never disappear, because it was the foundation of all families, the same as it was the natural support of governments.
“As a sort of police, perhaps it is,” murmured the doctor.
Duveyrier, however, did not like politics being discussed in his house, and he contented himself with severely declaring, as he glanced into the dining-room where Berthe and Hortense were stuffing Auguste with sandwiches:
“There is one fact, gentlemen, which settles everything: religion moralizes marriage.”
At the same moment, Trublot, seated on a sofa beside Octave, was bending towards the latter.
“By the way,” asked he, “would you like me to get you invited to a lady’s where there is plenty of amusement?”
And as his companion desired to know what kind of a lady, he added, indicating the counsellor by a sign:
“His mistress.”
“Impossible!” said Octave in amazement.