atters of this earth, and particularly matrimonial
connections, as very enduring; and as concerns this last point, the
plays which we see over and over again help to mislead us; being, as
they are, so untrue to the course of the world. In a comedy we see a
marriage as the last aim of a desire which is hindered and crossed
through a number of acts, and at the instant when it is reached the
curtain falls, and the momentary satisfaction continues to ring on in
our ears. But in the world it is very different. The play goes on still
behind the scenes, and when the curtain rises again we may see and hear,
perhaps, little enough of the marriage."

"It cannot be so very bad, however," said Charlotte, smiling. "We see
people who have gone off the boards of the theatre, ready enough to
undertake a part upon them again."

"There is nothing to say against that," said the Count. "In a new
character a man may readily venture on a second trial; and when we know
the world we see clearly that it is only this positive, eternal duration
of marriage in a world where everything is in motion, which has anything
unbecoming about it. A certain friend of mine, whose humor displays
itself principally in suggestions for new laws, maintained that every
marriage should be concluded only for five years. Five, he said, was a
sacred number--pretty and uneven. Such a period would be long enough for
people to learn each other's character, bring a child or two into the
world, quarrel, separate, and what is best, get reconciled again. He
would often exclaim, 'How happily the first part of the time would pass
away!' Two or three years, at least, would be perfect bliss. On one side
or the other there would not fail to be a wish to have the relation
continue longer, and the amiability would increase the nearer they got
to the parting time. The indifferent, even the dissatisfied party, would
be softened and gained over by such behavior; they would forget, as in
pleasant company the hours pass always unobserved, how the time went by,
and they would be delightfully surprised when, after the term had run
out, they first observed that they had unknowingly prolonged it."

Charming and pleasant as all this sounded, and deep (Charlotte felt it
to her soul) as was the moral significance which lay below it,
expressions of this kind, on Ottilie's account, were most distasteful to
her. She knew very well that nothing was more dangerous than the
licentious conversation