“A pretty case embalmed with incense, perfumed, securely padlocked, where the mind sleeps while the finders turn a bird-organ.”
“Well, that is encouraging for the husband. And what does he do?”
“He receives the key of the case, opens it; a little devil in a white dress jumps at his nose, eager to dance and get out.”
“Very well, the husband serves as guide. Has he other cares?”
“Perhaps so.”
“For instance?”
“An apartment, third floor, costs two thousand francs, the dress of the wife fifteen hundred, the education of a child, a thousand; the husband earns six thousand.”
“I understand; while dancing, they think of all sorts of melancholy things.”
“Of economizing, keeping up appearances, flattering, calculating.”
“What then is marriage with you?”