Oh! Say that you belong to the period of the Regency. I know that method
of excusing all male weaknesses and follies. Oh! yes; that eighteenth
century, that _dainty_ century, so full of _elegance_, so full of
delicious _fantasies_ and adorable _whims_! Alas! my dear, that is
ancient history.

M. DE SALLUS

No, no, you misunderstand me again. Believe me, I am and have been above
everything too--too--much of a Parisian, too much accustomed to turning
night into day, for the sedate life of marriage. I have been too much
accustomed to go behind the scenes of theaters, to various clubs, to a
thousand other forms of dissipation; and you know a man cannot change
all at once,--it takes time. Marriage seeks to change us all too
suddenly. It ought to give us time to get accustomed to it, little by
little. You would practically take away from me the joy of life were I
to behave as you seem to desire.

MME. DE SALLUS

I am so grateful; and now, perhaps, you wish to offer me a new proof--a
new proof--

M. DE SALLUS

Oh, as you please. Really, when a man who has lived as I have marries,
he can hardly help looking upon his wife as a new mistress--I mean to
say a faithful mistress--and it is only when it is too late that he
understands more clearly,--comes to his senses and repents.