“No doubt they will have a contrary effect, for softness irritates the passions. I shall leave everything with the good woman. I do not know what they would say if I took them with me to the convent.”
“You are not so comfortable there?”
“Oh, no! A straw bed, a couple of blankets, and sometimes, as a great favour, a thin mattress and two coarse sheets. But you seem sad; you were so happy yesterday.”
“How can I be happy when I can no longer toy with you without making you unhappy.”
“You should have said without giving me the greatest delight.”
“Then will you consent to receive pleasure in return for that which you give me?”
“But yours is innocent and mine is not.”
“What would you do, then, if mine and yours were the same?”
“You might have made me wretched yesterday, for I could not have refused you anything.”
“Why wretched? You would have had none of those dreams, but would have enjoyed a quiet night. I am very sorry the peasant woman has given you that corset, as otherwise I might at least have seen my little pets without fear of bad dreams.”