M. Prémereux, somewhat subdued by his thirty or forty years on the bench, envied him this insolence. The women, not appreciating the irony, attached no importance to this remark, and by a sudden turn of conversation, spoke of the case of Albert Derize. M. Lagier had just been talking in a low tone to the pretty Mme. Derize: was that not already a sort of infidelity? They hoped that he felt a secret passion for her. They foresaw it with that divination which is the attribute of certain hostesses, who are adepts in placing their guests at table, so as to arouse sympathies and provoke emotions, and thus succeed in giving an added brilliance to their receptions. So they spoke in favor of the wife before beginning the chapter concerning the husband. They praised her intelligence more than her beauty, and her resignation more than her youth.
"Now," said Mme. de Vimelle at last, taking the lead in the pursuit—"why, with so many fine qualities that we know of, should she have married a husband of such inferior origin?"
"That's what I say!" agreed Mme. Bonnard-Basson, who was descended from prosperous tradesmen—
Nevertheless they agreed upon some extenuating circumstances.
"He was well-known, a member of the Legion of Honor, almost famous." But an old lady asserted:
"For a writer the Academy is the only thing that counts."
They might have objected on the score of his age, but this was a subject which had already been too much discussed.
"These differences of position between husband and wife!" went on the angular Mme. de Vimelle. "There is nothing more dreadful. That an adventurer and an adventuress should meet and be mutually attracted. Nothing is more natural!"
And to outdo her friend of one season's standing, Mme. Bonnard-Basson, who was naturally servile and sought every opportunity to flatter her, took courage because of her hyphenated name, to add:
"Say what you will; only the old-established families know how to avoid scandals."