"Fools, my dear sister, are made to suffer such grief, and many others
besides. Did he tell you that she would not let him have anything to do
with her, and that she used to box his ears?"

"On the the contrary, he was always talking of her love for him."

"He made himself a fine fellow, I have no doubt, but the truth is, it was
a very ugly business."

After several hours of pleasant conversation my brother left, and I took
my sister-in-law to the opera. As soon as we were alone this poor sister
of mine began to make the most bitter complaints of my brother.

"I am no more his wife now," said she, "than I was the night before our
marriage."

"What! Still a maid?"

"As much a maid as at the moment I was born. They tell me I could easily
obtain a dissolution of the marriage, but besides the scandal that would
arise, I unhappily love him, and I should not like to do anything that
would give him pain."

"You are a wonderful woman, but why do you not provide a substitute for
him?"

"I know I might do so, without having to endure much remorse, but I
prefer to bear it."

"You are very praiseworthy, but in the other ways you are happy?"