This is intended for the use of mariners and husbands who are weatherwise.
THE MATRIMONIAL GADFLY.
Very well! In this degree of longitude, not far from a tropical sign upon the name of which good taste forbids us to make a jest at once coarse and unworthy of this thoughtful work, a horrible little annoyance appears, ingeniously called the Matrimonial Gadfly, the most provoking of all gnats, mosquitoes, blood-suckers, fleas and scorpions, for no net was ever yet invented that could keep it off. The gadfly does not immediately sting you; it begins by buzzing in your ears, and you do not at first know what it is.
Thus, apropos of nothing, in the most natural way in the world, Caroline says: “Madame Deschars had a lovely dress on, yesterday.”
“She is a woman of taste,” returns Adolphe, though he is far from thinking so.
“Her husband gave it to her,” resumes Caroline, with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Ah!”
“Yes, a four hundred franc dress! It’s the very finest quality of velvet.”
“Four hundred francs!” cries Adolphe, striking the attitude of the apostle Thomas.