"'Well, dearest, I have not spoken to any one of them,' he said.

"'How well we understand each other!' quoth she.

"Even as she uttered those bewildering sweet words, I caught sight of
something in her belt, the corner of a little note thrust sidewise
into it; but I did not need that indication to tell me that Tullia's
fantastic conduct was referable to occult causes. Woman, in my
opinion, is the most logical of created beings, the child alone
excepted. In both we behold a sublime phenomenon, the unvarying
triumph of one dominant, all-excluding thought. The child's thought
changes every moment; but while it possesses him, he acts upon it with
such ardor that others give way before him, fascinated by the
ingenuity, the persistence of a strong desire. Woman is less
changeable, but to call her capricious is a stupid insult. Whenever
she acts, she is always swayed by one dominant passion; and wonderful
it is to see how she makes that passion the very centre of her world.

"Tullia was irresistible; she twisted du Bruel round her fingers, the
sky grew blue again, the evening was glorious. And ingenious writer of
plays as he is, he never so much as saw that his wife had buried a
trouble out of sight.

"'Such is life, my dear fellow,' he said to me, 'ups and downs and
contrasts.'

"'Especially life off the stage,' I put in.

"'That is just what I mean,' he continued. 'Why, but for these
violent emotions, one would be bored to death! Ah! that woman has the