This longing springs from a sentiment so laudable, that society
should take it into consideration. But society, incorrigible as ever,
will assuredly persist in regarding the married woman as a corvette
duly authorized by her flag and papers to go on her own course, while
the woman who is a wife in all but name is a pirate and an outlaw for
lack of a document. A day came when Mme. de la Garde would fain have
signed herself "Mme. Castanier." The cashier was put out by this.
"So you do not love me well enough to marry me?" she said.
Castanier did not answer; he was absorbed by his thoughts. The poor
girl resigned herself to her fate. The ex-dragoon was in despair.
Naqui's heart softened towards him at the sight of his trouble; she
tried to soothe him, but what could she do when she did not know what
ailed him? When Naqui made up her mind to know the secret, although
she never asked him a question, the cashier dolefully confessed to the
existence of a Mme. Castanier. This lawful wife, a thousand times
accursed, was living in a humble way in Strasbourg on a small property
there; he wrote to her twice a year, and kept the secret of her
existence so well, that no one suspected that he was married.
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