“And so end our noblest dreams, our celestial loves!” said Calyste, dumfounded by so many revelations and disillusionments.

“Yes, in the serpent’s tail,” said Maxime, “or, worse still, in the vial of an apothecary.  I never knew a first love that did not end foolishly.  Ah!  Monsieur le baron, all that man has of the divine within him finds its food in heaven only.  That is what justifies the lives of us roues.  For myself, I have pondered this question deeply; and, as you know, I was married yesterday.  I shall be faithful to my wife, and I advise you to return to Madame du Guenic,—­but not for three months.  Don’t regret Beatrix; she is the model of a vain and empty nature, without strength, coquettish for self-glorification only, a Madame d’Espard without her profound political capacity, a woman without heart and without head, floundering in evil.  Madame de Rochefide loves Madame de Rochefide only.  She would have parted you from Madame du Guenic without the possibility of return, and then she would have left you in the lurch without remorse.  In short, that woman is as incomplete for vice as she is for virtue.”

“I don’t agree with you, Maxime,” said La Palferine.  “I think she will make the most delightful mistress of a salon in all Paris.”

Calyste went away, after shaking hands with Charles-Edouard and Maxime and thanking them for having pricked his illusions.

Three days later, the Duchesse de Grandlieu, who had not seen her daughter Sabine since the morning when this conference took place, went to the hotel du Guenic early in the day and found Calyste in his bath, with Sabine beside him working at some adornment for the future layette.

“What has happened to you, my children?” asked the excellent duchess.

“Nothing but good, dear mamma,” replied Sabine, raising her eyes, radiant with happiness, to her mother; “we have been playing the fable of ‘The Two Pigeons,’ that is all.”

Calyste held out his hand to his wife, and pressed hers so tenderly with a look so eloquent, that she said in a whisper to the duchess,—­

“I am loved, mother, and forever!”

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Ajuda-Pinto, Marquis Miguel d’
  Father Goriot
  Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
  The Secrets of a Princess

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
  The Purse
  A Bachelor’s Establishment
  The Government Clerks
  Modeste Mignon
  Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
  The Firm of Nucingen
  The Muse of the Department
  Cousin Betty
  The Member for Arcis
  A Man of Business
  Gaudissart II. 
  The Unconscious Humorists
  Cousin Pons

Blondet (Judge)
  Jealousies of a Country Town

Brossette, Abbe
  The Peasantry

Cadine, Jenny
  Cousin Betty
  The Unconscious Humorists
  The Member for Arcis