" And for ten
minutes he poured out his wrath.
"But, my dear," said the unhappy woman, with heroic courage, "these
creatures do not know what love means--such pure and devoted love as
you deserve. How could you, so clear-sighted as you are, dream of
competing with millions?"
"Dearest Adeline!" cried the Baron, clasping her to his heart.
The Baroness' words had shed balm on the bleeding wounds to his
vanity.
"To be sure, take away the Duc d'Herouville's fortune, and she could
not hesitate between us!" said the Baron.
"My dear," said Adeline with a final effort, "if you positively must
have mistresses, why do you not seek them, like Crevel, among women
who are less extravagant, and of a class that can for a time be
content with little? We should all gain by that arrangement.--I
understand your need--but I do not understand that vanity----"
"Oh, what a kind and perfect wife you are!" cried he. "I am an old
lunatic, I do not deserve to have such a wife!"
"I am simply the Josephine of my Napoleon," she replied, with a touch
of melancholy.
"Josephine was not to compare with you!" said he. "Come; I will play a
game of whist with my brother and the children. I must try my hand at
the business of a family man; I must get Hortense a husband, and bury
the libertine.
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