The countess had the utmost respect for her husband.
She even admired his turn of mind; she knew how to make him happy by approbation; she could do what she pleased with him by simply going to his study and talking for an hour with him.

Like the great seigneurs of the olden time, the count protected his wife so loyally that a single word of disrespect said of her would have been to him an unpardonable injury.

The world admired him for this; and Madame de Serizy owed much to it.

Any other woman, even though she came of a family as distinguished as the Ronquerolles, might have found herself degraded in public opinion.

The countess was ungrateful, but she mingled a charm with her ingratitude.