172 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



Charlotte and the Captain calmly sacrificing them- 

 selves to their sense of duty. Eduard wants a 

 divorce, and Charlotte would gladly agree to such a 

 step but for one unfortunate circumstance — she is 

 pregnant for the first time. After the birth of the 

 child matters go on as before, time exercising no 

 healing effect upon these passion -racked natures 

 until their bonds are broken by death. 



In the trilogy of la femme, le mari, et Vamant, the 

 same subject has been treated by many French writers 

 from Corneille to George Sand. The common solution 

 to the situation is the death of one of the parties. 

 Whether it be the husband or the lover or the wife 

 who disappears — and one of them is obviously de 

 trop — is a matter depending mainly upon the tem- 

 perament of the writer or the morals of his period. 

 Perhaps the most instructive example for our present 

 purpose is furnished by La Nouvelle Hdo'ise. Here 

 the characters of the trilogy live side by side at the 

 express desire of the husband. M. de Volmar, 

 knowing the affection of his wife for Saint-Preux, 

 proposes to overcome it by moral teaching, or rather 

 to purify it of its grosser elements and transform 

 it into a species of virtue. His efforts are vain 

 of course. No more than Goethe does Eousseau 



