“Oh! I am well aware that you no longer stay with me.”

“That is necessary; I must show myself in society; that is the place where a man makes acquaintances.”

“Disastrous ones, sometimes!”

“Oh! mon Dieu! I am not a child; I know with whom I am dealing! Why, to hear you and your mother talk, anyone would think that I am not capable of taking care of myself.

“I never said that, my dear; but I cannot help regretting the time when I alone was sufficient for your enjoyment; then you passed all your time with me,—you did not go into society.—Well! were you not happy?”

“To be sure I was.”

“Then why have you changed your mode of life?”

“Why? why? That is a strange question to ask me! a man cannot always be making love to his wife, can he?”

“Oh! I have discovered that! But I did not expect to learn it after only a year of married life.”

“Well, well! are you going to begin your reproaches again? Women are never reasonable.”