Ah! brave people, life is a battle, but the French of to-day will not risk anything.

They are the most honest, the least romantic of men, and I regret it.

Read Antoinette this passage of my letter.

Our young people think that they have a right to the paternal fortune; they consider that their father is wanting in his duty if he does not leave them a settled position, a certain future.
Their second preconceived notion is that they must find a wife who will bring them as much at least as they have to offer her.

I have so much, you have so much--we are evidently created for each other; let us marry.
All this is deplorable.