登陆注册
4611400000031

第31章

"You have come almost as quickly as we," said Prudence.

"Yes," I answered mechanically. "Where is Marguerite?""At home."

"Alone?"

"With M. de G."

I walked to and fro in the room.

"Well, what is the matter?"

"Do you think it amuses me to wait here till M. de G. leaves Marguerite's?""How unreasonable you are! Don't you see that Marguerite can't turn the count out of doors? M. de G. has been with her for a long time; he has always given her a lot of money; he still does.

Marguerite spends more than a hundred thousand francs a year; she has heaps of debts. The duke gives her all that she asks for, but she does not always venture to ask him for all that she is in want of. It would never do for her to quarrel with the count, who is worth to her at least ten thousand francs a year. Marguerite is very fond of you, my dear fellow, but your liaison with her, in her interests and in yours, ought not to be serious. You with your seven or eight thousand francs a year, what could you do toward supplying all the luxuries which a girl like that is in need of? It would not be enough to keep her carriage. Take Marguerite for what she is, for a good, bright, pretty girl; be her lover for a month, two months; give her flowers, sweets, boxes at the theatre; but don't get any other ideas into your head, and don't make absurd scenes of jealousy. You know whom you have to do with; Marguerite isn't a saint. She likes you, you are very fond of her; let the rest alone. You amaze me when I see you so touchy; you have the most charming mistress in Paris. She receives you in the greatest style, she is covered with diamonds, she needn't cost you a penny, unless you like, and you are not satisfied. My dear fellow, you ask too much!""You are right, but I can't help it; the idea that that man is her lover hurts me horribly.""In the first place," replied Prudence; "is he still her lover?

He is a man who is useful to her, nothing more. She has closed her doors to him for two days; he came this morning--she could not but accept the box and let him accompany her. He saw her home; he has gone in for a moment, he is not staying, because you are waiting here. All that, it seems to me, is quite natural.

Besides, you don't mind the duke."

"Yes; but he is an old man, and I am sure that Marguerite is not his mistress. Then, it is all very well to accept one liaison, but not two. Such easiness in the matter is very like calculation, and puts the man who consents to it, even out of love, very much in the category of those who, in a lower stage of society, make a trade of their connivance, and a profit of their trade.""Ah, my dear fellow, how old-fashioned you are! How many of the richest and most fashionable men of the best families I have seen quite ready to do what I advise you to do, and without an effort, without shame, without remorse, Why, one sees it every day. How do you suppose the kept women in Paris could live in the style they do, if they had not three or four lovers at once? No single fortune, however large, could suffice for the expenses of a woman like Marguerite. A fortune of five hundred thousand francs a year is, in France, an enormous fortune; well, my dear friend, five hundred thousand francs a year would still be too little, and for this reason: a man with such an income has a large house, horses, servants, carriages; he shoots, has friends, often he is married, he has children, he races, gambles, travels, and what not. All these habits are so much a part of his position that he can not forego them without appearing to have lost all his money, and without causing scandal. Taking it all round, with five hundred thousand francs a year he can not give a woman more than forty or fifty thousand francs in the year, and that is already a good deal. Well, other lovers make up for the rest of her expenses.

With Marguerite, it is still more convenient; she has chanced by a miracle on an old man worth ten millions, whose wife and daughter are dead; who has only some nephews, themselves rich, and who gives her all she wants without asking anything in return. But she can not ask him for more than seventy thousand francs a year; and I am sure that if she did ask for more, despite his health and the affection he has for her he would not give it to her.

"All the young men of twenty or thirty thousand francs a year at Paris, that is to say, men who have only just enough to live on in the society in which they mix, know perfectly well, when they are the lovers of a woman like Marguerite, that she could not so much as pay for the rooms she lives in and the servants who wait upon her with what they give her. They do not say to her that they know it; they pretend not to see anything, and when they have had enough of it they go their way. If they have the vanity to wish to pay for everything they get ruined, like the fools they are, and go and get killed in Africa, after leaving a hundred thousand francs of debt in Paris. Do you think a woman is grateful to them for it? Far from it. She declares that she has sacrificed her position for them, and that while she was with them she was losing money. These details seem to you shocking?

Well, they are true. You are a very nice fellow; I like you very much. I have lived with these women for twenty years; I know what they are worth, and I don't want to see you take the caprice that a pretty girl has for you too seriously.

同类推荐
  • 华严经合论纂要

    华严经合论纂要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 道德真经集注

    道德真经集注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 占察善恶业报经

    占察善恶业报经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 虚舟集

    虚舟集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 陈白沙集

    陈白沙集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 一切从零开始

    一切从零开始

    在工作中,我们很多人都眼高手低,自认为很了不起,却偏偏得不到老板的赏识。为此,牢骚、埋怨、不满等坏情绪四处蔓延,而事实上是如此吗?恰恰相反。只有把胳膊拉回来,伸出去的拳头才能更有力。出人头地的道理也是如此,只有安心工作,不急不躁,你的价值自然会体殃出来。记住:老板的眼中没有空缺的位置。本书阐述了在工作中如何去做,才能使自己和老板的利益最大化,才能使自己出人头地。并告诉了我们一个不变的法则就是:蹲得越低,跳得越高。
  • 山海经密码3

    山海经密码3

    本书故事主要是讲述桀的后代、成汤的孙子、伊尹的徒弟和他的伙伴们周游神州的经历。一统天下对主人公们来说只是他们展现自己个性的历史舞台。
  • 归庐谭往录

    归庐谭往录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 情歌

    情歌

    龙仁青,当代著名作家。1967年3月生于青海湖畔铁卜加草原1986年7月毕业于青海海南民族师范学校藏语言文学专业。先后从事广播、电视、报纸等媒体的新闻翻译(汉藏文)、记者、编辑、导演、制片等职,现供职于青海电视台影视部。
  • 渔樵问对

    渔樵问对

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 全科医师速查手册

    全科医师速查手册

    本书主要讲述临床常见病的诊断要点,简明扼要,易于查阅、记忆、掌握。治疗要点中具体治疗方法比较详尽,用药具体到剂量、用法、疗程等,充分体现了《全科医师速查手册》内容的实用、可操作性强的特点。
  • 15天打造金牌微商

    15天打造金牌微商

    本书是笔者继《挡不住的微店生意经:低成本微信创业全攻略》后的第二本描述微商的实战兵法。在笔者编写本书之前,有很多人通过微信刷屏获得了巨大的成功,笔者接触了很多半年销售过亿的微商品牌团队,一旦他们发动品牌招商,几个月的时间,销售业绩就会不停上涨,但是随之问题也出来了,代理商可以很快找到,但是如何让代理商的货销售到终端的用户手里,这个变成了一个最大的问题。解决不了这个问题,微商品牌资金链就会很快断掉,前期的风光将不再。
  • 花醉沉香慢慢老

    花醉沉香慢慢老

    季风艽这个女子穿得很“囧”,去旅游被一只臭猴子给PIA飞到山崖,不幸地一命呜呼。然,还是有幸运滴,可能是阎王觉得对不起她,让她的灵魂穿到一个架空时代,很俗的是成了一小丫鬟。不俗的是“她”伺候的小姐中了剧毒,她就华丽丽的去帮她找解药……情节虚构,请勿模仿!
  • 蜜战不休:总裁太欺人

    蜜战不休:总裁太欺人

    她用心爱他,却被当作棋子。三年的婚姻,被推上风口浪尖,她果断丢出离婚协议,“顾南城,离婚吧!”男人却固执将她拥入怀中,“慕凌歌,从此以后,再不分离。”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 首席专宠一妻二宝

    首席专宠一妻二宝

    离婚后,前妻消失四年竟生了一对龙凤胎!重逢后,沈三少步步逼婚,奈何前妻心门紧锁。软萌女娃操碎了心:“沈叔叔,要不你绑架我,威胁我妈妈和你结婚吧?”一看就是亲女儿。傲娇男娃专业拆台,亮出某人的果照:“你要是再纠缠我妈,我就把这个发家长群里!”一看就是坑爹!