in which lay novelty, came far more prominently before his mind.

"Marriage," he said to himself, "is disagreeable for people without
means, but half its troubles disappear before wealth."

Every day some favorable consideration swelled the advantages which he
now saw in this particular alliance.

"No matter to what position I attain, Natalie will always be on the
level of her part," thought he, "and that is no small merit in a
woman. How many of the Empire men I've seen who suffered horribly
through their wives! It is a great condition of happiness not to feel
one's pride or one's vanity wounded by the companion we have chosen. A
man can never be really unhappy with a well-bred wife; she will never
make him ridiculous; such a woman is certain to be useful to him.
Natalie will receive in her own house admirably."

So thinking, he taxed his memory as to the most distinguished women of
the faubourg Saint-Germain, in order to convince himself that Natalie
could, if not eclipse them, at any rate stand among them on a footing
of perfect equality. All comparisons were to her advantage, for they
rested on his own imagination, which followed his desires. Paris would
have shown him daily other natures, young girls of other styles of
beauty and charm, and the multiplicity of impressions would have
balanced his mind; whereas in Bordeaux Natalie had no rivals, she was
the solitary flower; moreover, she appeared to him at a moment when
Paul was under the tyranny of an idea to which most men succumb at his
age.

Thus these reasons of propinquity, joined to reasons of self-love and