THE COST OF A WIFE IN FRANCE.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 81, 14 August 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE COST OF A WIFE IN FRANCE.

(From All the Year Round.') Would rou like to know how much a fashionable wife" costs her husband ? You shall be favored with * slight glimpse of the interior of a Parisian household. A man of good family lately married a young lady, also of good family, in the eyes of the city. The match doubtless was the consequence of the acknowledged affinities which exist between birth and fortune. The husband bore the title of marquis, to which it appears he had really a right. He owned a heavily mortgaged estate in La Chalosse, and a dilapidated chateau Avhose roof he got kept in repair by the year, lie had served in the Second Hussars until he reached the rank of accountantcaptain ; but wben his fortieth birthday arrived, he resigned his commission, in order to turn his territorial marquisate to the best account. He was an intrepid sportsman, an excellent shot, a still better dinner companion, and had hiiherto kept clear of the matrimonial yoke. The young lady was descended from a Seine-et-Marne miller, who had an instinctive knowledge of the science of flour, and who had got together, some say three, others four, millions of francs, by skilfully handling the bushej measure. She had been educated at the convent of Sacre-CocUr, in company I with the titled offspring of the Faubourg J j Saint Germain, where she learned to ! dance, to play the piano, to make a curtsey, and to lower her eyelids. The father, marvelling at his daughter's perfections, gave her a dowry in accordance with his enthusiasm. He rigged her out, on the widding-day, with a couple of thousand pouuds a-year — half in gas shares, aud half in the omnibus de Paris ; but with a proper care ot his daughter's wardrobe, he stipulated that the bride should have an annual allowance of eight hundred pounds a-year, for the little elegant expenses which are defrayed by what is called pinmoney. The hiuband punctually fulfilled his en^a^ement. On the first day of the second three months, he scrupulously, gave her the quarter's pin-money. The marquise conscientiously spent it, ivith the delight of an emancipated schoolgirl who feels a bank-note burn her fingers until she has got rid of it in some foolish outlay. In the morning, at the breakfast hour, she made her first appearance in a white Indian cashmere dress, embroidered with blue flowers, lined with satin, slightly open in front to allow a glimpse of a Valenciennes petticoat trimmed with ribbons — a trifle of some eighty pounds. " How do you like this robe de cbambre?'' she would say to her husband. The marquis would cast a sidelong glance at madame, and bluntly answer, "Perfect.'' And, as he was always hungry in the morning, he would valiantly attack a slice of pie-c-ust. " I put. it on, on your account,'' the young wife continued, accompanying the your with one of those lingering looks which seem to promise eternity of happiness. "My wife is decidedly food of me/ thought, the husband. At one o'clock in the afternoon the marquise re-appeared on the horizon with a change ot decoration. This time, she wore a toilette de 13oi«, that, is, a dress in which to appear at the lioisde Boulogne: a grey velvet dress, with manteau of the same, both trimmed with sable fur — the whole estimated at one hundred and sixty pounds, at the lowest farthing. She first offered her husband her forehead to kiss; then, resting her two arms on his chest, and looking ut him from head to loot, in a sort of ecstacy, " You have again forgotten to compliment me, 1 ' said she, in a caressing tone of reproach. "About what, madame?'' She abruptly stepped a yard or two i back, and taking her dress in both hands, as if she were dancing, ''About this," she replied. "lugraLe that you are, it is again for your sake." " Delicious !'' the husband answered. i And then he added, mentally, "I might safely state that my wife grows more and more affectionate every minute. 1 ' The dinner hour arrived ; but madame first underwent her third, moult, and put on a dress embroidered, in colors, at the bottom, with bouquets of corn-flowers and poppies, interspersed '. with ears of corn, fastened by azure ribbon, so abundant and rustling that it i could be heard, behind the scenes, apI proaching from the next room. This | last fancy, however, had cost only one bank-note. The husband thought »he would have his Teveuge, and without, awaiting Jiny fresh provocation to compliment, "Divine!" he exclaimed, as he beheld his wife enter the dining-room in her third transformation. " What nonsence are you talking, my dear?" she sulkil}* answered. "The dress is a complete failure, a frightful dress — frightful in cut, and frightful in color. The blue and the red give you the idea of fireworks. In the shopwindow it had a tolerable effect, but on me, it makes me look a year older. 1 am really ashamed to appear in it before yon." ''The good intention is sufficient." "By no means, monsieur ; the action ought to correspond. I will send this bunch of rags to my dressmaker tomorrow ; she may do with it whatever she pleases." She ate her dinner ill-humoredly. When the desert was served, she left the table to put on a ball-dress to go to a soiree dansante at the Minister of State's ; shirt of white tulle covered with a golden network, from each of wbo.se meshes piotruded a puffof blonde, with a golden star at tho tip of each pun' — a fairy robe, with quillings of

blonde-— an item of one huiidrifdllrtj sixty pounds added to th^^jj^^ "It seenis; then, that I ajrn|»i|^a to four different women," t hQUgiijllJsH husband, sorrowfully, as h^;^S|| panied his wife to the sqii*ire'-;3ff|f Carrousel. * He regularly paid the sedpn^i tl<M3 and last instalment of niadaifty?C4p^ expenses : but, 10, at the eu3BJjj|§| year, the. milliner presented jfo||M£H|jj guis a supplementary bill oP:,".twpfimS sand and eighty pounds for t ?unf|)n^B outlay on dress! The marquis iraJrß by turning the milliner 6ut^ojj||tß house ; but, upon reflect! nv^e-Cc*|W her back, and obediently p^i,d?ih^Jbiß He added, however, a;:margj^a||j|pifl the effect that it was the lafsi :^l.|^S kind he would pay. pnerit«smt^fß ciall, made him shudder; a parasolf V set. down at -twelve ppund«^ |^|?s^jß parasol of that- price had J under the sun ! : ': 4:^ift« The sacrifice once consummated! ■ marquis, without giving an^c*!w|eß scandal, without any scolding£i||||M tbe contrary, kindly, altho^ii^n^M entreated his wife to have tbe gbodtJ jto confine her elegances witWnflM bounds of her credits. She listen*<rM him quietly ; she regarded hiniiwittfl air of astonishment : then, asif (yfcltiH to an internal impulse, she tlire^jH arms round her husband's*- nscffJ|jiH enveloping him with the totalit^^^B affection, stifling him in the embra^H her passion, she sobbed, she we^S^H begged his pardon. "It -was ; |i§|^B to please you,"' she said. . " 'Thf§§ j^| was committed through the coqdeiJM love and in its intoxication. -li'sli |^^| the last; I.swear'it by your I'Mp^l this sacred altar," she added, layj^lg^B hand on his heart. ■IIJ^H A lingering ray cf honeymojl shone on the tearful countenance ]^M Magdalen of dress. All was pf|| all was forgotten, and the treaty*©! j^H w, s sealed by an exchange of;si«f|| on the cheek of the wife and'tlvS^H of the husband. •••"§l^H And, nevertheless, MadameJlM^H guise became more and more : sji|§^H and underwent continued t ra^i§J^M tions from one hour of tli c^p^H another. But at the end of the milliner, implacable as I)esJi|j^M turned to put in the ]iusbandYj|| j^M fresh account of four thousand;!^ |^H which included several sums^||^H for the purchase of a screen,!^! j^H trimmings of some drawing-roojjlj The last quarter of &£Jffiß|^| had disappeared from the con j!l§^M mament. The marquis flatly^B^^B to acknowledge this underhand^^^B illegally furnished without big^J^H ledge or consent. The rnillinerj^H moiled the refractory husband 3 H^B the Tribunal de Premiere Iris^^^H The judge, to set a good example^^B suitpd the plaintiff. ''^^| After this domestic er>w/>..j Madame hi Marquise sulks at bami. She does not wee'p. —^jl'r^^l breaks out. She only mainfa^H savage silence. She has coveft^^H countenance with a marble ij^^H When her husband speaks, SMe^^^H not to hear him. When he "skVlj^^B tion, she answers Yes or No indifFtj^^M she uses and abuses the terribl^^H quence of the monosyllable. ~^j^^^| wishes to take her out for a Wall^^| drive, she has a headache : W ]^^H wants to go iuto the country, sn^^^H fering from gastralgy — she is dy^^^H demands to die in peace. <I l^^| her husband enjoys any dish at |j^^H she affects never to partake of i^^^H Sometimes, while sitting oppoi^^H this dumb woman, or rather thi.s^^H inson>ible shidow of a vvoman^^H statue petrified with vexation— ll*^^M band, boiling over with impa^^H strikes the table with his fist, and s^^B in a fit of delirium, " But spea^^B dame; rail at. me, (all me a m<^B fire a pistol at me, do anything-^^B a gesture, a movement, ft> prove have a living woman before me a^^| a phantom !" The wife languishingly rni.st^^H head, and smiles bitterly at thisn^^^J She is too well aware of the P°^^| passive resistance to have any i<jt^^| of changing her tactics. She continues to die ; she kee^^H bed for half t^e week, and r^ceive^^M there, with the bed-clothes turne^^H very fat-, in order to display to n^^H mate enemies (called acquainr^^H an embroidered chemise, an embri^^H under- waistcoat, an embroidered casp. an embroidered counterpai^^^| ' fiually an embroidered sheet,'^^H marouise's coronet in the cornei^^^H Then, all at once, under the P^^| that tlie doctor had advised her^^^B exercise, she w^uld keep out °^^^B and away from home for half One evening, when, wi»})" cheeks, she returned to her own^^^B she cast a look of triumph in t '*^^^B and hastily threw back her bur^^^H if to give more air to her chest^^H last. I am avenged," she said.^^H did she mean by that? Nobo^^H knew exactly. There was sonv^^H the time about a small sword-^^^B which her husband received in de Meudon. Ever since that^^^| has resumed his agricultural Jpui^^^B his Chalosse estate. The last him was, that he had gained t^^H for Durham oxen. ' , ,^^^fl