You have shown yourself in public with your admirers.

Neglecting the most ordinary precautions, you have allowed them to come
to your house; in a word, you have unblushingly advertised connections
which ought to have been concealed.

And the men you selected?

I do not wish to criticise your choice; but I quite understand why your
friends objected and were ashamed on your account.

At first people made the best of the situation, tacitly hoping that the
affairs might lead to marriage and that your monetary cares would thus
find a satisfactory solution. But after so many useless attempts this
benevolent attitude was abandoned, and scandal grew.

Meanwhile you, Magna, blind to all opinion, continued to follow the same
round: flirtation, sentiment, intimacy, adoration, submission, jealousy,
suspicion, suffering, hatred, and contempt.

The more inferior the man of your choice, the more determined you were
to invest him with extraordinary qualities. But as soon as the next one
appeared on the scene, you began to judge his predecessor at his true
value.

If all this had resulted in your getting the wherewithal to bring up
your children in comfort, I should say straight out: "My dear Magna, pay
no attention to what other people say, go your own road."

But, unfortunately, it is just the reverse; your children suffer. They