At last the thought occurred to her that she had ceased to please her husband, and then indeed she was seriously alarmed.

That fear now filled her mind, drove her to despair, then to feverish excitement, and became the text of many an hour of melancholy reverie.

She defended Balthazar at her own expense, calling herself old and ugly; then she imagined a generous though humiliating consideration for her in this secret occupation by which he secured to her a negative fidelity; and she resolved to give him back his independence by allowing one of those unspoken divorces which make the happiness of many a marriage.
Before bidding farewell to conjugal life, Madame Claes made some attempt to read her husband's heart, and found it closed.

Little by little, she saw him become indifferent to all that he had formerly loved; he neglected his tulips, he cared no longer for his children.

There could be no doubt that he was given over to some passion that was not of the heart, but which, to a woman's mind, is not less withering.