Indeed, my
lord, there is nothing to tell but this,--that I am not
fitted by birth and position to be the wife of the Duke of
Omnium. You would have to blush for me, and that no man
shall ever have to do on my account.
I will own that I have been ambitious, too ambitious, and
have been pleased to think that one so exalted as you are,
one whose high position is so rife in the eyes of all men,
should have taken pleasure in my company. I will confess
to a foolish woman's silly vanity in having wished to be
known to be the friend of the Duke of Omnium. I am like
the other moths that flutter near the light and have their
wings burned. But I am wiser than they in this, that
having been scorched, I know that I must keep my distance.
You will easily believe that a woman, such as I am, does
not refuse to ride in a carriage with your Grace's arms on
the panels without a regret. I am no philosopher. I do not
pretend to despise the rich things of the world, or the
high things. According to my way of thinking a woman ought
to wish to be Duchess of Omnium;--but she ought to wish
also to be able to carry her coronet with a proper grace.
As Madame Goesler I can live, even among my superiors, at
my ease.
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