Moths by Ouida — page 203: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

M —_ oa" e , bend. b Ti iy Loge 1 - aie ee " Pe i "2 : ey A as | r fee 4.4%, 59 (e . wee ">? T° Wy Vt Ge FEW hdy ee dk wie AVA) eA aed ee ee ail Se Lae ad ar 9 BOSS lds a AORN A teeth UP Lg Wee Bnet i 7 f t . * : »it.¥ ae it Pt 8 : tay i 4 fy a vi } : ot Lay leri tJ “(i ; a ' eAL : f : ay Bi ’ ; 7%, Witlae) Ti 7 : oe 4? ye : + ' Z oe i SAW Rp . . MOTHS. 799 Vera, and T have never seen any good come of the wife’s indig- nation in these cases. Society may go with her for the moment, but it deserts her in the long run. Her husband is embittered by the exposure, and he has always a strength she has not. The world does not insist that a wife shall have Griselda’s virtue or Griselda’s affection, but it does insist that she shall have Griselda’s patience. Noisette, and a thousand Noisettes, if your husband forget himself for them, cannot hurt you in the eyes of the world; but one rash moment of indignation and rupture may be your ruin.” Vere lifted her face, with all its loosened hair like a golden cloud about it, and her look was very cold and contemptuous, and almost hard in its scorn. ** Dear princess,” she said, very briefly and chillily, ‘I did not wish to trouble you on this subject. You are not to blame for your brother’s vices, or for my marriage. Only, pray under- stand, since we do speak of it, that my mind is quite made up. If Mademoiselle Noisette be permitted to be present at the park : to-morrow, I shall be absent. I was a child three years ago, but I am not a child now.” Madame Nelaguine sighed. *‘Of course you know everything, dear; women always do, even when nobody says asyllable to them. You are wronged, wounded, insulted; all that I admit with sorrow. But what I want to persuade you is, that this method of avenging yourself will dono sort of good. You will only give a triumph to Noi sette; you will only givea laugh to your friends and your enemies —for friends and enemies are so sadly alike in the way they look | at one’s misfortunes! My dear child, society has settled all these things; the belles petites are seen everywhere except just in our drawing-rooms; they will be soon there also, perhaps. The fic- tion of society is, that we know nothing of their existence; the fact of society is, that they are our most powerful and most successful rivals and dispute each inch of ground with us. Now, wise women sustain the fiction and ignore the fact, like society. I want you to be one of these wise ones. It-ought to be easy to you, because you have no love for Sergius.” | A very bitter look came for the moment on Vere’s face. She raised her head once more with a very proud gesture. ‘Let us say no more, Nadine. I have self-respect. I will not be a public spectacle vis-a-vis with one of Prince Zouroff’s mis- tresses. He can choose whether he sees her in her pavilion or mein mine. He will not see both. Good-night.” Sorrowful, discomfited, baffled, but knowing that her sister- in-law had justice on her side, though not prudence, the Prin- cess Nelaguine went to her own chamber. : ‘*War has begun,” she thought; and she shuddered, because she knew her brother’s temper. When he was ten years old she had seen him strangle a pet monkey because the small creature disobeyed him in his tricks. Madame Nelaguine awoke in the morning feverish with anx- iety. She was not a good woman, but she had honor in her, and was capable of affection. She had begun to detest her brother Comic 0001 ut