My sentiments were not inquired
into, nor, to confess the truth, was such an investigation usual,
or deemed a matter of any import. A young female of any rank
has no voice in any transaction till the day which follows her
marriage; until then her wishes are those of her family, and her
desires bounded by the rules of worldly etiquette. I had scarcely
conversed twice or thrice with my future lord, and then only for
a few minutes at a time, before he conducted me to the foot of
the altar, there to pronounce the solemn vow which bound me his
for life. I had scarcely seen him, and barely knew whether he
was agreeable or disagreeable. He was neither young nor old,
handsome nor ugly, pleasing nor displeasing; just one of those
persons of whom the world is principally composed; one of those
men who enter or leave a saloon without the slightest curiosity
being excited respecting him. I had been told that I ought to
love my husband, and accordingly I taught myself to do so; but
scarcely had the honeymoon waned, than my fickle partner transferred
his affections from me to one of my attendants; and to such a
height did his guilty passion carry him, that he quitted his home
for Italy, carrying with him the unfortunate victim of his seductive
arts. It was during his absence that I first became acquainted
with madame Boncault; she was my own age, and equally unfortunate
in her domestic life; the same tests, griefs, and a great similarity
of temper and disposition soon united us in the bonds of the
firmest friendship; but as she possessed a stronger and more
reasonable mind than I did, she forgot her own sorrows to administer
to mine.
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