It might have cost you a great deal more if he had been ugly! [Mme. de Ronchard _rises to go away_.] Besides Jean is not only good-looking but he is good. He is not vain, but modest; and he has genius, which is manifesting itself more and more every day. He will certainly attain membership in the Inst.i.tute. That would please you, would it not? That would be worth more than a simple engineer; and, moreover, every woman finds him charming, except you.

MME. DE RONCHARD

That's the very thing for which I blame him. He is too good and too honest. He has already painted the portraits of a crowd of women, and he will continue to do that. They will be alone with him in his studio for hours at a time, and everybody knows what goes on in those studios.

LeON

You have been accustomed to go there, my dear Aunt?

MME. DE RONCHARD [_dreamily_]

Oh, yes. [_Corrects herself_.] I mean to say, once I went to Horace Vernet's studio.

LeON

The painter of battle scenes!

MME. DE RONCHARD

Well, what I say of Jean, I say of all artists--that they ought not to be allowed to marry into a family of lawyers and magistrates, such as ours. Such doings always bring trouble. I ask you as a man, is it possible to be a good husband under such conditions--among a crowd of women continually around you who do nothing but unrobe and re-dress themselves, whether they be clients or models (_pointedly_), especially models? [Mme. de Ronchard _rises and_ Leon _is silent_.] I said _models_, Leon.

LeON

I understand you, Aunt. You make a very pointed and delicate allusion to Jean's past. Well, what of it? If he did have one of his models for a mistress, he loved her, and loved her sincerely for three years--

MME. DE RONCHARD

You mean to tell me a man can love such women?

LeON

Every woman can be loved, my dear Aunt; and this woman certainly deserved to be loved more than most women.

MME. DE RONCHARD

A great thing, truly, for a model to be pretty! That is the essential thing, I should think.

LeON

Whether it be essential or not, it is nevertheless very nice to be pretty. But this girl was better than pretty, for she had a nature which was exceptionally tender, good, and sincere.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Well, then, why did he leave her?

LeON

What! Can you ask me such a question?--you, who know so much about the world and the world's opinions? [_Folds his arms_.] Would you advocate free love?

MME. DE RONCHARD [_indignantly_]

You know I would not.

LeON [_seriously_]

Listen. The truth is, that it happened to Jean as it has happened to many others besides him--that is to say, there was a pretty little nineteen-year-old girl whom he met, whom he loved, and with whom he established an intimacy little by little--an intimacy which lasted one, two, three years--the usual duration of that sort of thing. Then, as usually happens, there came a rupture--a rupture which is sometimes violent, sometimes gentle, but which is never altogether good-natured.

Then also, as usual in such cases, each went a separate way--the eternal ending, which is always prosaic, because it is true to life. But the one thing that distinguishes Jean's _liaison_ from the usual affair is the truly admirable character of the girl in the case.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Oh, admirable character! Mademoiselle--tell me, what is the name of this young lady? If you mentioned it I have forgotten it. Mademoiselle Mus--Mus--

LeON

Musotte, Auntie; little Musotte.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Musette! Pshaw, that's a very common name. It reminds me of the Latin quarter and of Bohemian life. [_With disgust._] Musette!

LeON

No, no; not Musette. Musotte, with an O instead of an E. She is named Musotte because of her pretty little nose; can't you understand?

Musotte, the name explains itself.

MME. DE RONCHARD [_with contempt_]

Oh, yes; a _fin-de-siecle_ Musotte, which is still worse. Musotte is not a name.

LeON

My dear Aunt, it is only a nickname. The nick-name of a model. Her true name is Henriette Leveque.

MME. DE RONCHARD [_puzzled_]

Leveque?

LeON

Yes, Leveque. What does this questioning mean? It is just as I told you, or else I know nothing about it. Now, Henriette Leveque, or Musotte, if you prefer that term, has not only been faithful to Jean during the course of her love affair with him; has not only been devoted and adoring, and full of a tenderness which was ever watchful, but at the very hour of her rupture with him, she gave proof of her greatness of soul. She accepted everything without reproach, without recrimination; the poor little girl understood everything--understood that all was finished and finished forever. With the intuition of a woman, she felt that Jean's love for my sister was real and deep, she bowed her head to circ.u.mstances and she departed, accepting, without a murmur, the loneliness that Jean's action brought upon her. She carried her fidelity to the end, for she would have slain herself sooner than become [_hesitating out of respect for_ Mme. de Ronchard] a courtesan. And this I _know_.

MME. DE RONCHARD

And has Jean never seen her since?

LeON