hatter, or of watching the development of their instincts, of their
intellect, and of their little, delicate souls.

He used to go and sit in the Parc Monceau, and in the squares, to watch
them playing and romping and prattling round him, and one day, as a
joke, somebody, a jealous mistress, or some friends in joke, had sent
him a splendid wet nurse's cap, with long, pink ribbons.

At first, he was under the influence of the charm that springs from the
beginning of an intimacy, from the first kisses, and devoted himself
altogether to that amorous education which revealed a new life to him,
as it were, and enchanted him.

He thought of nothing except of increasing the ardent love that his wife
bestowed on him, and lived in a state of perpetual adoration. Suzanne's
feelings, the metamorphosis of that virginal heart, which was beginning
to glow with love, and which vibrated, her passion, her modesty, her
sensations, were all delicious surprises to him.

He felt that feverish pleasure of a traveler who has discovered some
marvelous Eden, and loses his head over it, and, at times, with a long
affectionate and proud look at her, which grew even warmer on looking
into Suzanne's limpid, blue eyes, he would put his arms round her waist,
and pressing her to him so strongly that it hurt the young woman, he
exclaimed:

"Oh! I am quite sure that nowhere on earth are there two people who love
each other as we do, and who are as happy as you and I are, my darling!"

Months of uninterrupted possession and enchantment succeeded each other
without George altering, and without any lassitude mingling with the
ardor of their love, or the fire of their affection dying out.

Then, however, suddenly he ceased to be happy, and, in spite of all his
efforts to hide his invincible lowness of spirits, he became another
man, restless, being irritated at nothing, morose, and bored at
everything and everywhere; whimsical, and never knowing what he wanted.

But there was certainly something that was now poisoning that affection
which had formerly been his delight, which was coming more and more
between him and his wife every day, and which was giving him a distaste
for home.

By degrees, that vague suffering assumed a definite shape in his heart,
got implanted and fixed there, like a nail. He had not attained his
object, and he felt the weight of chains, understood that he could never
get used to such an existence, that he could not love a wom