"Well, and what about him? Was he not being treated as if he were a
criminal? And yet he had not committed a crime! He had acted according
to all legal requirements, he had not broken his marriage vows. He had
left the country in compliance with the dictates of the law; the Royal
Consistory has granted his appeal for a divorce; the clergy, Holy Church,
had given him his release from the bonds of his first marriage on stamped
paper; therefore he had not broken them! When a country was conquered, a
whole nation was absolved from its oath of loyalty to its monarch; why
did society look askance at the release from a promise? Had it not
conferred the right on the Consistory to dissolve a marriage? How could
it dare to assume the character of a judge now and condemn its own laws?
Society was at war with itself! He was being treated like a criminal!
Hadn't the secretary of the Embassy, his old friend, on whom he had left
his and his wife's cards, acknowledged them by simply returning one card
only? And was he not overlooked at all public functions?"
"Oh! She had had to put up with worse things! One of her friends in Paris
had closed her door to her, and several had cut her in the street."
"Only the wearer of a boot knew where it pinched.
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