“I thought that just now——”
“Oh! you call that a dispute! why, my dear boy, that was nothing at all; we have a hundred little arguments like that during the day; but they’re not disputes! You see, when two people live together, it’s very hard to be always of the same opinion.”
“I should think that it would be more agreeable.”
“But it’s impossible! Ah! my dear Eugène, anyone can see that you’re a bachelor! you know nothing at all about married life; but before long I hope that you will know all the joys of marriage, of which you have no conception now.”
“No; I agree that I have no conception of them.”
“Patience, it will come in time. Good-night, dear Eugène; until to-morrow!”
My sister left me, and I went to bed reflecting on the manner of life of which Amélie and her husband had just given me a specimen; and yet it was a delightful household, so everybody said. This much was certain—that my sister was virtuous, and true to her husband, and that Déneterre was very fond of his wife and children. Why, then, those frequent disputes?—I saw that my sister was right: I had undertaken to argue about conjugal happiness, and I did not know what it was. I concluded that the best thing I could do was to go to sleep.
The journey had tired me, but the sight of my sister and her husband had diverted my thoughts from my grief, for all troubles yield at last to time and to distraction. I fell asleep in a more tranquil frame of mind than I had known for a long while; and I should doubtless have slept well into the forenoon, if my dear nephews had not taken it upon themselves to wake me. At seven o’clock I heard a great noise in my room; I felt somebody pulling my leg and my arm; I opened my eyes and saw my sister’s two children, who had climbed on my bed and were amusing themselves by playing tricks and tumbling all over me. While I, still half asleep, gazed vacantly at them, I heard a roar of laughter behind me; I drew the curtain aside and discovered Déneterre seated a few feet from the bed and laughing at my surprise.
“Well!” he said; “here they are; what do you think of them?”
“Why, they are in excellent condition, so far as I can see.”