LÉON
Whether it be essential or not, it is nevertheless very nice to be pretty. But this girl was better than pretty, for she had a nature which was exceptionally tender, good, and sincere.
MME. DE RONCHARD
Well, then, why did he leave her?
LÉON
What! Can you ask me such a question?—you, who know so much about the world and the world's opinions? [Folds his arms.] Would you advocate free love?
MME. DE RONCHARD [indignantly]
You know I would not.
LÉON [seriously]
Listen. The truth is, that it happened to Jean as it has happened to many others besides him—that is to say, there was a pretty little nineteen-year-old girl whom he met, whom he loved, and with whom he established an intimacy little by little—an intimacy which lasted one, two, three years—the usual duration of that sort of thing. Then, as usually happens, there came a rupture—a rupture which is sometimes violent, sometimes gentle, but which is never altogether good-natured. Then also, as usual in such cases, each went a separate way—the eternal ending, which is always prosaic, because it is true to life. But the one thing that distinguishes Jean's liaison from the usual affair is the truly admirable character of the girl in the case.