Look here, I'll give
you a single instance: they all wanted to marry me! A pretty notion, eh?
Yes, dear boy, I could have been countess or baroness a dozen times
over and more, if I'd consented. Well now, I refused because I was
reasonable. Oh yes, I saved 'em some crimes and other foul acts! They'd
have stolen, murdered, killed father and mother. I had only to say one
word, and I didn't say it. You see what I've got for it today. There's
Daguenet, for instance; I married that chap off! I made a position for
the beggarly fellow after keeping him gratis for weeks! And I met him
yesterday, and he looks the other way! Oh, get along, you swine! I'm
less dirty than you!"
She had begun pacing about again, and now she brought her fist violently
down on a round table.
"By God it isn't fair! Society's all wrong. They come down on the women
when it's the men who want you to do things. Yes, I can tell you this
now: when I used to go with them--see? I didn't enjoy it; no, I didn't
enjoy it one bit. It bored me, on my honor. Well then, I ask you whether
I've got anything to do with it! Yes, they bored me to death! If it
hadn't been for them and what they made of me, dear boy, I should be
in a convent saying my prayers to the good God, for I've always had my
share of religion.
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