Customs changed with the latitudes.
And yet those trifles were not without importance, for life consisted
of trifles. If men and women shared bad habits, intercourse between
them would be less stiff and formal: they would make friends more
easily and keep pace with one another. If they had the same education,
they would have the same interests, and cling together more closely
during the whole of their lives."
The Baron was silent as if he had said something foolish. But she had
not been listening to him; her thoughts had been far away.
"She had been insulted by a waiter, told that she was not fit to
associate with respectable people. There was more behind that, than
appeared on the surface. She had been recognised. Yes, she was sure of
it, it was not the first time that she had noticed it."
"What had she noticed?"
"That she had been treated with little respect at the restaurants. The
people evidently did not think that they were married; because they
were affectionate and civil to one another. She had borne it in silence
for a long time, but now she had come to the end of her tether. And yet
this was nothing compared to what they were saying at home!"
"Well, what were they saying? And why had she never told him anything
about it before?"
"Oh! horrible things! The letters she had received! Leaving the
anonymous ones quite out of the question.
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