His proposals of manifold unsanctified delights met with unqualified rejection by the respectable and not too passionately infatuated Lola.

When he nerved himself to the supreme sacrifice of offering marriage she accepted.
She had dreams of social advancement, yearned to be one of the white faces of the audience in the front rows.

The civil ceremony having been performed, he pleaded with her for a few weeks' secrecy on account of his family.

The weeks grew into months, during which, for the sake of a livelihood, she fulfilled her professional engagements in many other towns.

At last, when she returned to Marseilles, it became apparent that Captain Vauvenarde had no intention whatever of acknowledging her openly as his wife.