he wealthy M. de Bellegarde, had bought--a
man who was really in love with her for a whole month after their
marriage, but who, tiring of the pure affections of a loving wife,
soon began to lavish his time and fortune upon a _danseuse_. The
poor young wife was between two fires, the extravagance and wild
dissipations of her husband and the rigid discipline and orthodoxy of
her mother. Never was a woman treated so outrageously and insultingly
as was this woman by a man who contrived in every manner to corrupt
her morals by throwing her among his dissolute companions, Mme.
d'Artz, the mistress of the Prince de Conti, and Mlle. d'Ette, an
intriguing woman of the time; to the latter, Mme. d'Epinay confided
her troubles, and, as the result of her counsels, fell into the hands
of a M. de Francueil, handsome, clever, accomplished, but as morally
depraved as was her husband.

When Mme. d'Epinay was finally convinced that her husband was untrue
to her, she felt nothing but disdain and contempt for him, and
decided to live a virtuous life; after holding for a short time to
her resolution "that a woman may have the most profound and tender
sentiment for a man and yet remain faithful to her duties," she lost
herself under the influence of the professional seducer Francueil,
and, completely carried away by that passion, she cries out, in her
memoirs: _Francueil, Francueil, tu m'as perdue, et tu disais que tu
m'aimais_ [You have undone me--and you said you loved me]! Such was
the lot, as was seen, of most women of those days, who had noble
intentions, but a woman's weakness. The century did not demand
faithfulness to the marital vows; but when a woman had once abandoned
herself to love, it required that the attachment be to a man of honor
and standing. Marriage was simply a preliminary step to freedom;
after that ceremony came the natural election of the heart and mutual
tenderness of the beings who could be mated only through the freedom
which married life afforded. A superior illegitimate liaison was
nothing unnatural--on the contrary, it was but a natural human
selection; such was the nature of the affection of Mme. d'Epinay for
this debauche Francueil.

As she enjoyed absolute liberty, her lover paid his respects to her at
Epinay; there he inaugurated amusements and took his friends. It
was he who suggested the erection of a theatre at which her friends'
productions might be offered to the world of critics. Through his
efforts