being Nature meant me to be!

"This is what my bitter complainings mean. But do not let them
hinder you from sending me those flowers. Your friendship is so
soothing and so full of loving kindness that it has for the last
few months almost reconciled me to myself. Yes, it makes me happy
to have you cast a glance upon my soul, at once so barren and so
full of bloom; and I am thankful for every gentle word you say to
one who rides the phantom steed of dreams, and returns worn-out."

At the end of the third year of his married life, Graslin, observing
that his wife no longer used her horses, and finding a good market for
them, sold them. He also sold the carriages, sent away the coachman,
let the bishop have his man-cook, and contented himself with a woman.
He no longer gave the monthly sum to his wife, telling her that he
would pay all bills. He thought himself the most fortunate of husbands
in meeting no opposition whatever to these proceedings from the woman
who had brought him a million of francs as a dowry. Madame Graslin,
brought up from childhood without ever seeing money, or being made to
feel that it was an indispensable element in life, deserved no praise
whatever for this apparent generosity. Graslin even noticed in a
corner of the secretary all the sums he had ever given her, less the
money she had bestowed in charity or spent upon her dress, the cost of
which was much lessened by the profusion of her wedding trousseau.

Graslin boasted of Veronique to all Limoges as being a model wife. He
next regretted the money spent on the house, and he ordered the
furniture to be all packed away or covered up. His wife's bedroom,
dressing-room, and boudoir were alone spared from these protective
measures; which protect nothing, for furniture is injured just as much