I do not draw from this story the conclusion that all women like
Marguerite are capable of doing all that she did--far from it; but
I have discovered that one of them experienced a serious love in the
course of her life, that she suffered for it, and that she died of it. I
have told the reader all that I learned. It was my duty.
I am not the apostle of vice, but I would gladly be the echo of noble
sorrow wherever I bear its voice in prayer.
The story of Marguerite is an exception, I repeat; had it not been an
exception, it would not have been worth the trouble of writing it.