Yet such was then, as now, the idea of matrimony in France, that
the young lady's friends considered her fortunate.
Scarron in love was a picture which amazed and amused the whole society
of Paris, but Scarron married was still more curious. The queen, when
she heard of it, said that Francoise would be nothing but a useless bit
of furniture in his house. She proved not only the most useful appendage
he could have, but the salvation alike of his soul and his reputation.
The woman who charmed Louis XIV. by her good sense, had enough of it to
see Scarron's faults, and prided herself on reforming him as far as it
was possible. Her husband had hitherto been the great Nestor of
indelicacy, and when he was induced to give it up, the rest followed his
example. Madame Scarron checked the licence of the abbe's conversation,
and even worked a beneficial change in his mind.
The joviality of their parties still continued. Scarron had always been
famous for his _petits soupers_, the fashion of which he introduced, but
as his poverty would not allow him to give them in proper style, his
friends made a pic-nic of it, and each one either brought or sent his
own dish of ragout, or whatever it might be, and his own bottle of wine.
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