be superior to us at the
right moment, or to worship our pettiness when it pleases us to be
petty. We are not so silly as you think us. When we love we place
the man of our choice above all else. Whatever shakes our faith in
our supremacy shakes our love. In flattering us men flatter
themselves. If you intend to remain in society, to enjoy an
intercourse with women, you must carefully conceal from them all
that you have told me; they will not be willing to sow the flowers
of their love upon the rocks or lavish their caresses to soothe a
sickened spirit. Women will discover the barrenness of your heart
and you will be ever more and more unhappy. Few among them would
be frank enough to tell you what I have told you, or sufficiently
good-natured to leave you without rancor, offering their
friendship, like the woman who now subscribes herself

Your devoted friend,

Natalie de Manerville.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Birotteau, Abbe Francois
Cesar Birotteau
The Vicar of Tours

Blamont-Chauvry, Princesse de
The Thirteen
Madame Firmiani

Brandon, Lady Marie Augusta
The Member for Arcis
La Grenadiere

Chessel, Madame de
The Government Clerks

Dudley, Lord
The Thirteen
A Man of Business
Another Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve

Dudley, Lady Arabella
The Ball at Sceaux
The Magic Skin
The Secrets of a Princess
A Daughter of Eve
Letters of Two Brides

Givry
Letters of Two Brides
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Lenoncourt, Duc de
Cesar Birotteau
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Gondreville Mystery
Beatrix

Lenoncourt-Givry, Duchesse de
Letters of Two Brides
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Listomere, Marquis de
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Study of Woman

Listomere, Marquise de
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve

Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
The Chouans
The Seamy Side of History
The Gondreville Mystery
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Ball at Sceaux
Colonel Chabert
The Government Clerks

Manerville, Comtesse Paul