which she had made, reflected upon the influence which this man had
over her husband, and of which she had often had proof she kept silence,
therefore, and hoped that he had made himself seem worse than he was, to
frighten her. On this point she was strangely mistaken.

The abbe, however, wished to see, in the first place, whether the
marquise's refusal was due to personal antipathy or to real virtue. The
chevalier, as has been said, was handsome; he had that usage of good
society which does instead of mind, and he joined to it the obstinacy
of a stupid man; the abbe undertook to persuade him that he was in love
with the marquise. It was not a difficult matter. We have described
the impression made upon the chevalier by the first sight of Madame
de Ganges; but, owing beforehand the reputation of austerity that his
sister-in-law had acquired, he had not the remotest idea of paying court
to her. Yielding, indeed, to the influence which she exercised upon all
who came in contact with her, the chevalier had remained her devoted
servant; and the marquise, having no reason to mistrust civilities which
she took for signs of friendliness, and considering his position as her
husband's brother, treated him with less circumspection than was her
custom.

The abbe sought him out, and, having made sure they were alone, said,
"Chevalier, we both love the same woman, and that woman is our brother's
wife; do not let us thwart each other: I am master of my passion, and
can the more easily sacrifice it to you that I believe you are the man
preferred; try, therefore, to obtain some assurance of the love which I
suspect the marquise of having for you; and from the day when you reach
that point I will withdraw, but otherwise, if you fail, give up your
place civilly to me, that I may try, in my turn, whether her heart is
really impregnable, as everybody says."

The chevalier had never thought of the possibility of winning the
marquise; but from the moment in which his brother, with no apparent
motive of personal interest, aroused the idea that he might be beloved,
every spark of passion and of vanity that still existed in this
automaton took fire, and he began to be doubly assiduous and attentive
to his sister-in-law. She, who had never suspected any evil in this
quarter, treated the chevalier at first with a kindliness that was
heightened by her scorn for the abbe. But, before long, the chevalier,
misunderstanding the grounds of this kind