Cats exercise... a magic influence upon highly developed men of intellect. This is why these long-tailed Graces of the animal kingdom, these adorable, scintillating electric batteries have been the favorite animal of a Mohammed, Cardinal Richlieu, Crebillon, Rousseau, Wieland.

So,” Wanda cried, “a woman in furs is nothing more than a large cat, a charged electric battery?

¿Encontraré una mujer que, fiel y benévola, comparta mi suerte brillante y generosa, cuando ahora quien la comparte sólo lo hace de una manera blanda o tímida? Entonces prefiero caer entre las manos de una mujer sin virtud, inconstante y despiadada. En su inmenso egoísmo, esa mujer es todavía un ideal. Si es que no puedo gozar plena y enteramente la dicha del amor, necesito apurar la copa de los sufrimientos y de las torturas, ser maltratado y engañado por la mujer amada, cuanto más cruelmente, mejor. ¡Es un verdadero goce!

Nature admits of no permanence in the relation between man and woman. It is only man's egoism that wants to keep woman like some buried treasure. All endeavors to introduce permanence in love, the most changeable thing in this changeable human existence, have gone shipwreck in spite of religious ceremonies, vows, and legalities.

Man is the one who desires, woman the one who is desired. This is woman's entire but decisive advantage. Through man's passions, nature has given man into woman's hands, and the woman who does not know how to make him her subject, her slave, her toy, and how to betray him with a smile in the end is not wise.

The stranger astonished him more and more by her dignified and serious manner. It's usually the case, isn't it, that a young girl giggles when a man speaks with her, or else blushes, hides her face, and behaves awkwardly? The stranger was nothing like this. She maintained her poise, natural, cold and majestic. He delighted in her bearing, his fascination growing all the time; his eyes sparkled and his half-open mouth, showing his white teeth, made him look as if he needed to breathe more than usual.