should have spoken to Hulot
about Madame Marneffe, as knowing what was a secret to the rest of the
world; for, as Monsieur Marneffe was away, no one but Lisbeth Fischer,
besides the Baron and Valerie, was initiated into the mystery.

The Baron had made a blunder in giving Madame Marneffe a dress far too
magnificent for the wife of a subordinate official; other women were
jealous alike of her beauty and of her gown. There was much whispering
behind fans, for the poverty of the Marneffes was known to every one in
the office; the husband had been petitioning for help at the very moment
when the Baron had been so smitten with madame. Also, Hector could not
conceal his exultation at seeing Valerie's success; and she, severely
proper, very lady-like, and greatly envied, was the object of that
strict examination which women so greatly fear when they appear for the
first time in a new circle of society.

After seeing his wife into a carriage with his daughter and his
son-in-law, Hulot managed to escape unperceived, leaving his son and
Celestine to do the honors of the house. He got into Madame Marneffe's
carriage to see her home, but he found her silent and pensive, almost
melancholy.

"My happiness makes you very sad, Valerie," said he, putting his arm
round her and drawing her to him.

"Can you wonder, my dear," said she, "that a hapless woman should be a
little depressed at the thought of her first fall from virtue, even when
her husband's atrocities have set her free? Do you suppose that I have
no soul, no beliefs, no religion? Your glee this evening has been really
too barefaced; you have paraded me odiously. Really, a schoolboy would
have been less of a coxcomb. And the ladies have dissected me with their
side-glances and their satirical remarks. Every woman has some care for
her reputation, and you have wrecked mine.

"Oh, I am yours and no mistake! And I have not an excuse left but that
of being faithful to you.--Monster that you are!" she added, laughing,
and allowing him to kiss her, "you knew very well what you were doing!
Madame Coquet, our chief clerk's wife, came to sit down by me, and
admired my lace. 'English point!' said she. 'Was it very expensive,
madame?'--'I do not know. This lace was my mother's. I am not rich
enough to buy the like,' said I."

Madame Marneffe, in short, had so bewitched the old beau, that he really
believed she was sinning for the first time for his sake, and that he
had inspired