Jean [going to M. De Cayolle]—M. De Cayolle, I hope you will believe that I am very glad to meet you.
Cayolle—I dare say you are, monsieur. [M. De Cayolle as he utters the words turns his back upon Giraud and steps aside.]
Translated for 'A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by E. Irenæus Stevenson
M. DE RÉMONIN'S PHILOSOPHY OF MARRIAGE
From 'L'Étrangère'
Madame de Rumières—See here, now, Rémonin, you who claim to explain everything as a learned man—can you solve this proposition? Why is it that with all the quantity of love in this world, there are so many unhappy marriages?
M. Rémonin—I could give you a perfect explanation, my dear lady, if you were not a woman.
Madame de Rumières—You mean that the explanation is not decent?
M. Rémonin—No, I mean that it is a matter based on the abstract.... It is this. The reason why marriages are rarely happy, in spite of the "quantity of love" in question, is because love and marriage, scientifically considered, have no relationship. They belong to two sorts of things, completely differing. Love is of the physical. Marriage is a matter of chemistry.