the time, a young girl of from sixteen to eighteen, fresh, dressed
with taste, the treasures of whose beauty seem to breathe defiance,
whose frank bearing is irresistibly attractive, whose downcast eyes
seem to fear you, whose timid glance tempts you, and for whom the
conjugal bed has no secrets, for she is at once a virgin and an
experienced woman! How can a man remain cold, like St. Anthony, before
such powerful sorcery, and have the courage to remain faithful to the
good principles represented by a scornful wife, whose face is always
stern, whose manners are always snappish, and who frequently refuses
to be caressed? What husband is stoical enough to resist such fires,
such frosts? There, where you see a new harvest of pleasure, the young
innocent sees an income, and your wife her liberty. It is a little
family compact, which is signed in the interest of good will.

In this case, your wife acts with regard to marriage as young
fashionables do with regard to their country. If they are drawn for
the army, they buy a man to carry the musket, to die in their place
and to spare them the hardships of military life.

In compromises of this sort there is not a single woman who does not
know how to put her husband in the wrong. I have noticed that, by a
supreme stroke of diplomacy, the majority of wives do not admit their
maids into the secret of the part which they give them to play. They
trust to nature, and assume an affected superiority over the lover and
his mistress.

These secret perfidies of women explain to a great degree the odd
features of married life which are to be observed in the world; and I
have heard women discuss, with profound sagacity, the dangers which
are inherent in this terrible method of attack, and it is necessary to