be as one to us
then; the ambergris of the boudoir will breathe an odor of death and dry
bones; and suppose there is a heart there in that mud, not one of you
but would make mock of it, not so much as a memory will you spare to
us. Is not our existence precisely the same whether we live in a fine
mansion with lap-dogs to tend, or sort rags in a workhouse? Does it make
much difference whether we shall hide our gray heads beneath lace or a
handkerchief striped with blue and red; whether we sweep a crossing with
a birch broom, or the steps of the Tuileries with satins; whether we sit
beside a gilded hearth, or cower over the ashes in a red earthen pot;
whether we go to the Opera or look on in the Place de Greve?"

"_Aquilina mia_, you have never shown more sense than in this depressing
fit of yours," Euphrasia remarked. "Yes, cashmere, _point d'Alencon_,
perfumes, gold, silks, luxury, everything that sparkles, everything
pleasant, belongs to youth alone. Time alone may show us our folly, but
good fortune will acquit us. You are laughing at me," she went on, with
a malicious glance at the friends; "but am I not right? I would sooner
die of pleasure than of illness. I am not afflicted with a mania for
perpetuity, nor have I a great veneration for human nature, such as God
has made it. Give me millions, and I would squander them; I should not
keep one centime for the year to come. Live to be charming and have
power, that is the decree of my every heartbeat. Society sanctions my
life; does it not pay for my extravagances? Why does Providence pay me
every morning my income, which I spend every evening? Why are hospitals
built for us? And Providence did not put good and evil on either hand
for us to select what tires and pains us. I should be very foolish if I
did not amuse myself."

"And how about others?" asked Emile.

"Others? Oh, well, they must manage for themselves. I prefer laughing
at their woes to weeping over my own. I defy any man to give me the
slightest uneasiness."

"What have you suffered to make you think like this?" asked Raphael.

"I myself have been forsaken for an inheritance," she said, striking an
attitude that displayed all her charms; "and yet I had worked night and
day to keep my lover! I am not to be gulled by any smile or vow, and I
have set myself to make one long entertainment of my life."

"But does not happiness come from the soul within?" cried Raphael.

"It may be so," Aquilina answered;