A curious feature of these Talfa people was the entire absence of any code of morals. There was no difference made between a virtuous woman and one of loose habits. Everybody lived on the same footing and enjoyed the same privileges. Things happened according to taste and temperament, and nobody thought anything about it. Thus conflicts of passion were reduced to a minimum. No one had rights, as no one possessed anything.
Thus lived the Talfa people. No laws, no trouble, and no police commissioners.
CHAPTER XXXVII
The Escape from the Catacombs
M. THEOPHRASTE LONGUET had by this time quite forgotten the ties which bound him to the world above, and while M. Mifroid was abandoning himself to the fancies of Lady de Montfort, he was indulging in excesses of debauchery with the Talfa people.
The time came when M. Mifroid became tired of this kind of life. They had been in the catacombs three weeks and had become acquainted with the habits of all the Talfa people. M. Mifroid longed to get into the open world, where people had public affairs and a properly organized society. He felt confused, and a feeling of weariness came over him.
Théophraste was for stopping there altogether. He said he had never had such a time before. He had been playing the tricks of Cartouche on the Talfa people, and he felt more free in spirits than he had felt on earth. He was so persistent In his determination to stay that M. Mifroid decided to appeal to Mlle, de Coucy. He felt that Théophraste was a nuisance to the Talfa, and the best way to get him out was to appeal to the people themselves. Théophraste had even suggested putting out his own eyes to be like these people.
Upon telling Mlle, de Coucy, however, he got a totally different answer than he expected. She told him that the Talfa people had decided to let them go as soon as twenty thousand people had passed their fingers over their faces. She explained that the Talfa had forever been trying to get into the upper world, and therefore they must all visit these men from the coveted realms and see what they looked like before their departure.