A marriage? But divorce is a remedy ready to hand, for there is no question of priest or religious ceremony. What is it in reality? A contract which will last as long as it pleases the parties to observe the conditions, but which is of no value either in the conscience of the wife or in that of her old world; which will bring something big if well played, for this young man may mount high; which will bring, in any case, a pension if he is killed."
XIV.
VENIAL MENDACITIES.
"Nevertheless, she has precautions to take; first of all, her age to dissemble, for she does not want to avow, either to this youth of twenty-six or to any one else, that she is more than thirty-two years old. So Calmelot, her confidential man, at present tutor of her children, goes, accompanied by a friend named Lesourd, to a notary's: "They certify that they know Marie-Joseph Tascher, widow of the citizen Beauharnais, intimately, know that she is a native of the Island of Martinique, and that at the present moment it is impossible for her to procure a certificate of birth on account of the island being occupied by the English." That is all; no other declaration, no date. Armed with this, Josephine can declare to the Civil officer that she was born on June 23, 1767, whilst in reality she was born on June 23, 1763. People
