"'M.l'Abbe preaches for his own saint,for it was Jesus Christ who invented adultery,'said Comte Octave.'In the East,the cradle of the human race,woman was merely a luxury,and there was regarded as a chattel;no virtues were demanded of her but obedience and beauty.By exalting the soul above the body,the modern family in Europe--a daughter of Christ--invented indissoluble marriage,and made it a sacrament.'
"'Ah!the Church saw the difficulties,'exclaimed M.de Grandville.
"'This institution has given rise to a new world,'the Count went on with a smile.'But the practices of that world will never be that of a climate where women are marriageable at seven years of age,and more than old at five-and-twenty.The Catholic Church overlooked the needs of half the globe.--So let us discuss Europe only.
"'Is woman our superior or our inferior?That is the real question so far as we are concerned.If woman is our inferior,by placing her on so high a level as the Church does,fearful punishments for adultery were needful.And formerly that was what was done.The cloister or death sums up early legislation.But since then practice has modified the law,as is always the case.The throne served as a hotbed for adultery,and the increase of this inviting crime marks the decline of the dogmas of the Catholic Church.In these days,in cases where the Church now exacts no more than sincere repentance from the erring wife,society is satisfied with a brand-mark instead of an execution.
The law still condemns the guilty,but it no longer terrifies them.In short,there are two standards of morals:that of the world,and that of the Code.Where the Code is weak,as I admit with our dear Abbe,the world is audacious and satirical.There are so few judges who would not gladly have committed the fault against which they hurl the rather stolid thunders of their "Inasmuch."The world,which gives the lie to the law alike in its rejoicings,in its habits,and in its pleasures,is severer than the Code and the Church;the world punishes a blunder after encouraging hypocrisy.The whole economy of the law on marriage seems to me to require reconstruction from the bottom to the top.The French law would be perfect perhaps if it excluded daughters from inheriting.'
"'We three among us know the question very thoroughly,'said the Comte de Grandville with a laugh.'I have a wife I cannot live with.
Serizy has a wife who will not live with him.As for you,Octave,yours ran away from you.So we three represent every case of the conjugal conscience,and,no doubt,if ever divorce is brought in again,we shall form the committee.'
"Octave's fork dropped on his glass,broke it,and broke his plate.He had turned as pale as death,and flashed a thunderous glare at M.de Grandville,by which he hinted at my presence,and which I caught.
"'Forgive me,my dear fellow.I did not see Maurice,'the President went on.'Serizy and I,after being the witnesses to your marriage,became your accomplices;I did not think I was committing an indiscretion in the presence of these two venerable priests.'
"M.de Serizy changed the subject by relating all he had done to please his wife without ever succeeding.The old man concluded that it was impossible to regulate human sympathies and antipathies;he maintained that social law was never more perfect than when it was nearest to natural law.Now Nature takes no account of the affinities of souls;her aim is fulfilled by the propagation of the species.
Hence,the Code,in its present form,was wise in leaving a wide latitude to chance.The incapacity of daughters to inherit so long as there were male heirs was an excellent provision,whether to hinder the degeneration of the race,or to make households happier by abolishing scandalous unions and giving the sole preference to moral qualities and beauty.
"'But then,'he exclaimed,lifting his hand with a gesture of disgust,'how are we to perfect legislation in a country which insists on bringing together seven or eight hundred legislators!--After all,if I am sacrificed,'he added,'I have a child to succeed me.'
"'Setting aside all the religious question,'my uncle said,'I would remark to your Excellency that Nature only owes us life,and that it is society that owes us happiness.Are you a father?'asked my uncle.
"'And I--have I any children?'said Comte Octave in a hollow voice,and his tone made such an impression that there was no more talk of wives or marriage.
"When coffee had been served,the two Counts and the two priests stole away,seeing that poor Octave had fallen into a fit of melancholy which prevented his noticing their disappearance.My patron was sitting in an armchair by the fire,in the attitude of a man crushed.
"'You now know the secret of my life,said he to me on noticing that we were alone.'After three years of married life,one evening when Icame in I found a letter in which the Countess announced her flight.
The letter did not lack dignity,for it is in the nature of women to preserve some virtues even when committing that horrible sin.--The story is now that my wife went abroad in a ship that was wrecked;she is supposed to be dead.I have lived alone for seven years!--Enough for this evening,Maurice.We will talk of my situation when I have grown used to the idea of speaking of it to you.When we suffer from a chronic disease,it needs time to become accustomed to improvement.
That improvement often seems to be merely another aspect of the complaint.