“Oh! of course, since madame was so unhappy with her husband, that she was obliged to leave him—after many years, no doubt.”
“Why, no; we had been married hardly three years when we separated.”
“Only three years! That isn’t very long! Was he very unkind from the beginning, that husband of yours?”
“Yes, he began to be very—very ridiculous at once!”
“Madame had no children?”
“No, I had none.”
“That is very lucky, for sometimes there is a dispute as to who shall have the children, or who shall not have them; whereas, when there are none, it’s: ‘Adieu, bonsoir; we can’t live together any longer, let us part!’—Isn’t that the way it’s done, madame?”
“Not quite so easy as that when you wish to separate according to law, and that is what we did, Monsieur de—my husband having his separate property and I mine, we both took our own.”
“Ah! but if your husband should die, madame, would you inherit from him?”
“No indeed, I should not get a sou.”