A Daughter of Eve by Honoré de Balzac
page 87 of 159 (54%)
page 87 of 159 (54%)
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leisurely style of a man devoid of cares and with no other duties than
those of love. When in return for this toilsome and wholly ignored devotion all he won were a few sweet words, the prettiest assurances of eternal attachment, ardent pressures of the hand on the very few occasions when they found themselves alone, he began to feel he was rather duped by leaving his mistress in ignorance of the enormous costs of these "little attentions," as our fathers called them. The occasion for an explanation arrived in due time. On a fine April morning the countess accepted Nathan's arm for a walk through the sequestered path of the Bois de Boulogne. She intended to make him one of those pretty little quarrels apropos of nothing, which women are so fond of exciting. Instead of greeting him as usual, with a smile upon her lips, her forehead illumined with pleasure, her eyes bright with some gay or delicate thought, she assumed a grave and serious aspect. "What is the matter?" said Nathan. "Why do you pretend to such ignorance?" she replied. "You ought to know that a woman is not a child." "Have I displeased you?" "Should I be here if you had?" "But you don't smile to me; you don't seem happy to see me." "Oh! do you accuse me of sulking?" she said, looking at him with that submissive air which women assume when they want to seem victims. |
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