COUN. Still, they might learn, if they would only listen to one; but
what I think too bad is that they will persist in saying that they
know as much as I do--I who have spent two months in Paris, and have
seen the whole court.
JU. What absurd people!
COUN. They are unbearable in the impertinent equality with which they
treat people. For, in short, there ought to be a certain subordination
in things; and what puts me out of all patience is that a town
upstart, whether with two days' gentility to boast of or with two
hundred years', should have impudence enough to say that he is as much
of a gentleman as my late husband, who lived in the country, kept a
pack of hounds, and took the title of Count in all the deeds that he
signed.
JU. They know better how to live in Paris, in those large hotels you
must remember with such pleasure! That Hotel of Mouchy, Madam; that
Hotel of Lyons, that Hotel of Holland, what charming places to live
in![Footnote: Instead of naming the hotels (= mansions) of the great
noblemen, Julia names the hotels (= inns) of the time. She thus shows
where the countess had studied the aristocracy.]
COUN. It is true that those places are very different from what we
have here. You see there people of quality who do not hesitate to show
you all the respect and consideration which you look for.
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