opinions of a man who sat in the Chamber among the fifteen or twenty
persons who represented the legitimist party; she found means to tell
him how she had fooled de Marsay to the top of his bent, then, by an
easy transition to the royal family and to "Madame," and the devotion
of the Prince de Cadignan to their service, she drew d'Arthez's
attention to the prince:--

"There is this to be said for him: he loved his masters, and was
faithful to them. His public character consoles me for the sufferings
his private life has inflicted upon me-- Have you never remarked," she
went on, cleverly leaving the prince aside, "you who observe so much,
that men have two natures: one of their homes, their wives, their
private lives,--this is their true self; here no mask, no
dissimulation; they do not give themselves the trouble to disguise a
feeling; they are what they ARE, and it is often horrible! The other
man is for others, for the world, for salons; the court, the
sovereign, the public often see them grand, and noble, and generous,
embroidered with virtues, adorned with fine language, full of
admirable qualities. What a horrible jest it is!--and the world is
surprised, sometimes, at the caustic smile of certain women, at their
air of superiority to their husbands, and their indifference--"

She let her hand fall along the arm of her chair, without ending her
sentence, but the gesture admirably completed the speech. She saw
d'Arthez watching her flexible figure, gracefully bending in the
depths of her easy-chair, noting the folds of her gown, and the pretty
little ruffle which sported on her breast,--one of those audacities of
the toilet that are suited only to slender waists,--and she resumed
the thread of her thoughts as if she were speaking to herself:--