No, no, you misunderstand me again. Believe me, I am and have been above everything too--too--much of a Parisian, too much accustomed to turning night into day, for the sedate life of marriage. I have been too much accustomed to go behind the scenes of theaters, to various clubs, to a thousand other forms of dissipation; and you know a man cannot change all at once,--it takes time. Marriage seeks to change us all too suddenly. It ought to give us time to get accustomed to it, little by little. You would practically take away from me the joy of life were I to behave as you seem to desire.

MME. DE SALLUS

I am so grateful; and now, perhaps, you wish to offer me a new proof--a new proof--

M. DE SALLUS

Oh, as you please. Really, when a man who has lived as I have marries, he can hardly help looking upon his wife as a new mistress--I mean to say a faithful mistress--and it is only when it is too late that he understands more clearly,--comes to his senses and repents.

MME. DE SALLUS

Well, my friend, it _is_ too late. As I have already told you, I mean to have my innings. I have taken nearly three years to think it over. You may think that is long, but I need some amus.e.m.e.nt as well as you. The fact that I have taken nearly three years to think it over is a compliment to you, but you fail to see it.

M. DE SALLUS

Madeline, this jesting is altogether out of place.

MME. DE SALLUS

Oh! no, because I am compelled to think that every one of your mistresses was far more attractive than I, since you have preferred them to me.

M. DE SALLUS

What sort of mood are you in?

MME. DE SALLUS

In the same mood that I always am. It is you who have changed.

M. DE SALLUS

True, I _have_ changed.

MME. DE SALLUS

And that is to say--

M. DE SALLUS

That I have been an idiot.

MME. DE SALLUS

And that--

M. DE SALLUS

I am sane once more.

MME. DE SALLUS

And that--

M. DE SALLUS

That I am again in love with my wife.

MME. DE SALLUS

You must have returned to your youth.

M. DE SALLUS

What do you say?

MME. DE SALLUS

I say that you must have returned to your youth.

M. DE SALLUS

What do you mean?

MME. DE SALLUS

Let me ill.u.s.trate. When you are young you are always hungry, and when a youth is hungry he often eats things that he would not eat at another time. Well, I am the dish,--the dish that you have neglected in your days of plenty, the dish to which you return in the days of scarcity--[_slowly_] for which I thank you!

M. DE SALLUS

I have never looked upon you as you think. You pain me as well as astonish me.

MME. DE SALLUS

So much the worse for both of us. If I astonish you, you repel me. Learn now, once for all, that I am not made for the role of a subst.i.tute.

M. DE SALLUS [_approaches her, takes her hand and presses a long kiss upon it_]

Madeline, I swear to you that I love you, in truth, devotedly, now and forever.

MME. DE SALLUS [_ironically_]

You must really believe it! [_Suddenly._] But who is the woman that attracts--and repels you--just now?

M. DE SALLUS

Madeline, I swear--

MME. DE SALLUS