“Why? Because I told you I was trying to keep a man at a distance?”
“Yes. Why keep him at a distance? If Monsieur de Camps or Monsieur Gaston or Monsieur de Rastignac were to make a practice of coming here habitually, would you trouble yourself about them?”
“No; but they have not the same claim upon me: it is that I fear.”
“Tell me, do you think Monsieur de Sallenauve loves you?”
“No; I am now quite sure to the contrary; and I also think that on my side—”
“We’ll talk about that presently; now I want to ask if you desire Monsieur de Sallenauve to love you?”
“Heaven forbid!”
“Well, then, the best possible way to make him do so is to wound his self-love, and show yourself unjust and ungrateful to him; you will only force him to think the more of you.”
“But, my dear friend, isn’t that a very far-fetched observation?”
“Did you never observe that men are more taken by our snubs than by our caresses? Severity fixes their attention upon us.”