Ah! mother, pity me, though at this moment I am happy as a woman
who fears to lose her happiness and so clings fast to it,--one way
of killing it, says that profoundly wise Clotilde.

I notice that for the last five months I think only of myself,
that is, of Calyste. Tell sister Clotilde that her melancholy bits
of wisdom often recur to me. She is happy in being faithful to the
dead; she fears no rival. A kiss to my dear Athenais, about whom I
see Juste is beside himself. From what you told me in your last
letter it is evident he fears you will not give her to him.
Cultivate that fear as a precious product. Athenais will be
sovereign lady; but I who fear lest I can never win Calyste back
from himself shall always be a servant.

A thousand tendernesses, dear mamma. Ah! if my terrors are not
delusions, Camille Maupin has sold me her fortune dearly. My
affectionate respects to papa.

These letters give a perfect explanation of the secret relation
between husband and wife. Sabine thought of a love marriage where
Calyste saw only a marriage of expediency. The joys of the honey-moon
had not altogether conformed to the legal requirements of the social
system.

During the stay of the married pair in Brittany the work of restoring
and furnishing the hotel du Guenic had been carried on by the
celebrated architect Grindot, under the superintendence of Clotilde
and the Duc and Duchesse de Grandlieu, all arrangements having been
made for the return of the young household to Paris in December, 1838.
Sabine installed herself in the rue de Bourbon with pleasure,--less