Chapter 22 - Epilogue to Love

Summary

In the days following his final breakup with Mlle. Mimi, who, as you will recall, left him for the caresses of Viscount Paul, the poet Rodolphe tried to distract himself by finding another lover.

She was fair and we’ve seen how he dressed up as Romeo for an interlude of pleasure and laughter, but this relationship arose from his unhappiness and her yearning for a good time, and it wasn't made to last long. After all, she was a foolish young woman: she had perfect pitch when it came to singing the songs of manipulation, she was smart enough to recognize the intelligence of others and sometimes use it for her own benefit, and she was barely sensitive enough to feel bad when she’d overeaten. In addition to all that, her pride was unbridled and her vanity was so strong that she’d rather see her lover break a leg than to have one flounce less on her dress or a faded ribbon on her hat. An ordinary creature, her beauty was questionable and she was naturally endowed with every bad instinct, but she had a way of being quite seductive as well when the time was right. It didn't take her long to realize that Rodolphe was only with her to help him get over his lost love, but it wasn't working and instead he missed her even more. Never before had Mimi's hold on his heart been so strong, so compelling.

One day Juliet, the poet's new lover, was chatting about him with a medical student who was courting her and he said, “My dear child, this boy is using you the way we use nitrate to cauterize a wound. He wants to cauterize his heart and you’re making a mistake if you get upset about him or even stay faithful to him.”

“Oh!” the young woman exclaimed as she burst into laughter, “do you really think I’m worried about that?” And that very evening, she provided the student with clear proof that she was not.

Thanks to the indiscretion of a so-called friend who didn't know how to keep a secret if it held back news that might make someone miserable, Rodolphe caught wind of her affair and used it as an excuse to break things off with his interim mistress.