M. DE SALLUS
Oh, yes, dreamers do. But men—real men—men who are passionate, men who are positive, men who are tender, do not love the society woman of to-day, since she is incapable of love. My dear fellow, look around you. You see intrigues—everyone sees them; but can you lay your finger upon a single real love affair—a love that is disinterested, such a love as there used to be—inspired by a single woman of our acquaintance? Don't I speak the truth? It flatters a man to have a mistress—it flatters him, it amuses him, and then it tires him. But turn to the other picture and look at the woman of the stage. There is not one who has not at least five or six love affairs on the carpet; idiotic follies, causing bankruptcy, scandal, and suicides. Men love them; yes, they love these women because these women know how to inspire love, and because they are loving women. Yes, indeed, they know how to conquer men; they understand the seduction of a smile; they know how to attract, seize, and wrap us up in their hearts, how to enslave us with a look, and they need not be beautiful at that. They have a conquering power that we never find in our wives.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
And the Santelli is a seductress of this kind?
M. DE SALLUS
She is first among the first! Ah, the cunning little coquette! She knows how to make men run after her.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Does she do only that?
M. DE SALLUS
A woman of that sort does not give herself the trouble of making men run after her unless she has some further object in view.