“But then there are two extra breadths and enough for a high waist!”
“Monsieur Deschars does things on a grand scale,” replies Adolphe, taking refuge in a jest.
“All men don’t pay such attentions to their wives,” says Caroline, curtly.
“What attentions?”
“Why, Adolphe, thinking of extra breadths and of a waist to make the dress good again, when it is no longer fit to be worn low in the neck.”
Adolphe says to himself, “Caroline wants a dress.”
Poor man!
Some time afterward, Monsieur Deschars furnishes his wife’s chamber anew. Then he has his wife’s diamonds set in the prevailing fashion. Monsieur Deschars never goes out without his wife, and never allows his wife to go out without offering her his arm.
If you bring Caroline anything, no matter what, it is never equal to what Monsieur Deschars has done. If you allow yourself the slightest gesture or expression a little livelier than usual, if you speak a little bit loud, you hear the hissing and viper-like remark:
“You wouldn’t see Monsieur Deschars behaving like this! Why don’t you take Monsieur Deschars for a model?”