"I explained mine to her, influenced by the interest of society and the primordial importance of the family. She naturally believed in the rights of the individual.
"'We must above all be sincere. A home cannot exist without truth.'
"In Dauphiné she had already condemned those unchangeable principles to which one cannot give expression to-day without audacity. Life has only served to confirm her desire of revolt.
"'Our feelings may change,' I said to her. 'Facts which are the result of them do not change. These facts have engendered responsibility, created obligations.'
"'They do not necessitate the loss of one's liberty.'
"'But there are no free men.'
"'Then is there no longer truth?'
"I defended this miserable lie, so derided, which insures men's peace in every society, because one is not capable of hearing the truth. One minute she detested me—I could not bear it, and I discontinued that tone of sarcasm which allows us to treat serious subjects too lightly.
"'We have liberty only in the inner sanction. The chief aim of marriage is not the happiness of husband and wife.'
"She started.