First Part Chapter 18

MME. DE L'ESTORADE TO LOUISE DE CHAULIEU
April.

My angel--or ought I not rather to say my imp of evil?--you have,
without meaning it, grieved me sorely. I would say wounded were we not
one soul. And yet it is possible to wound oneself.

How plain it is that you have never realized the force of the word
indissoluble as applied to the contract binding man and woman! I
have no wish to controvert what has been laid down by philosophers or
legislators--they are quite capable of doing this for themselves--but,
dear one, in making marriage irrevocable and imposing on it a
relentless formula, which admits of no exceptions, they have rendered
each union a thing as distinct as one individual is from another.

Each has its own inner laws which differ from those of others. The laws
regulating married life in the country, for instance, cannot be the
same as those regulating a household in town, where frequent
distractions give variety to life. Or conversely, married life in
Paris, where existence is one perpetual whirl, must demand different
treatment from the more peaceful home in the provinces.

But if place alters the conditions of marriage, much more does
character. The wife of a man born to be a leader need only resign
herself to his guidance; whereas the wife of a fool, conscious of
superior power, is bound to take the reins in her own hand if she
would avert calamity.