"Nonsense, Louis; yon will have to marry some time or other."
"Yes, I suppose so; but French girls are brought up with a becoming sense of the submission due from wives to husbands; now, this girl would prove rebellious I know, and, however democratic I may be in my theory of the government of nations, my theory of the government of the 'menage' is that of despotism. Besides, I have a remnant of humanity left in me, and would not condemn that bright young creature to the misery of being my wife; no, no, let her marry some Quixotical American, who will place her on a high pedestal and pass his life in admiring her and letting her henpeck him."
I could not help smiling at this resume of an American husband's chivalric devotion.
"Very well, you will pass your life as you have commenced it; you will deny yourself all sorts of luxuries because they are expensive; that Rembrandt you covet so, will remain unpurchased; you want to travel, but you will stay at home, because travelling costs money; and finally you will marry some girl as poor as yourself, or with a dôt, which she will spend, together with more than half your pittance, in buying silks and satins to outshine Madame this or Madame that—"
"Hold!"
"On the other hand, you might, by marrying this charming Mees, decorate your house with pictures and statutes, go everywhere, see everything, and take your place among the enlightened patrons of art and science; all this you reject because you are afraid this little Mees will prove stronger of will—"
"Stronger of will than I!" and M. Louis sprang from his chair; the Baronne was no fool after all. "Diable! there are few women I could not bend to my will. My aunt, I will try my luck with this little Mees; win her, wed her, and conquer her, too?"
"There spoke a d'Agri; but, my dear boy, you should pay her court more assiduously, compliment her—"
"Pshaw! I understand your charming sex better than you do yourself; if flattery could have won her, I should long ago have been beaten by that soft-headed, smooth-tongued artist. No, the surest way to win a woman is to make her feel that you can master her, and that if you bow before her, it is only because you choose to do so."