It is true
the duchess does not suffer from it as much as a wife, who would have
him always about her."
Then, practising a well-known manoeuvre peculiar to her sex, Helene
d'Herouville repeated in a low voice all the calumnies which women
jealous of the Duchesse de Chaulieu were in the habit of spreading
about the poet. This little incident, common as it is in the
intercourse of women, will serve to show with what fury the hounds
were after Modeste's wealth.
Ten days saw a great change in the opinions at the Chalet as to the
three suitors for Mademoiselle de La Bastie's hand. This change, which
was much to the disadvantage of Canalis, came about through
considerations of a nature which ought to make the holders of any kind
of fame pause, and reflect. No one can deny, if we remember the
passion with which people seek for autographs, that public curiosity
is greatly excited by celebrity. Evidently most provincials never form
an exact idea in their own minds of how illustrious Parisians put on
their cravats, walk on the boulevards, stand gaping at nothing, or eat
a cutlet; because, no sooner do they perceive a man clothed in the
sunbeams of fashion or resplendent with some dignity that is more or
less fugitive (though always envied), than they cry out, "Look at
that!" "How queer!" and other depreciatory exclamations.
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