itself, what must it not be when it is passed in remorse? I feel the
necessity of avoiding such a misfortune. I calculated at first that I
could not succeed in, doing so, without condemning myself to a life of
austerity, and I had not the courage to undertake it. But it gradually
dawned upon me that the condition of a society woman was alone
competent to reconcile virtue with pleasure. From the smile on your
face, I suspect such an idea appears to be a paradox to you. But it is
more reasonable than you imagine.

"Tell me this: Is a society woman obliged to have an attachment? Is
she not exempt from tenderness? It is sufficient for her to be amiable
and courteous, everything on the surface. As soon as she becomes
expert in the role she has undertaken, then, the only mistrust the
world has of her is that she has no heart. A fine figure, haughty
airs, caprices, fashionable jargon, fantasies, and fads, that is all
that is required of her. She can be essentially virtuous with
impunity. Does any one presume to make advances? If he meet with
resistance he quickly gives over worrying her, he thinks her heart is
already captured, and he patiently awaits his turn. His perseverance
would be out of place, for she would notify a man who failed to pay
her deference, that it was owing to arrangements made before he
offered himself. In this way a woman is protected by the bad opinion
had of her.

"I read in your eyes that you are about to say to me: The state of a
professional society woman may injure my reputation, and plunge me
into difficulties I seek to avoid. Is not that your thought? But do
you not know, Monsieur, that the most austere conduct does not guard a
woman from the shafts of malice? The opinion men give of women's
reputation, and the good and wrong ideas they acquire of us are always