He considered the exterior advantages, estimated the eighty years of imperial nobility which Count Martin brought.

The idea never came to him that she might wish to find love in marriage.
He flattered himself that she would find in it the satisfaction of the luxurious desires which he attributed to her, the joy of making a display of grandeur, the vulgar pride, the material domination, which were for him all the value of life, as he had no ideas on the subject of the happiness of a true woman, although he was sure that his daughter would remain virtuous.
While thinking of his absurd yet natural faith in her, which accorded so badly with his own experiences and ideas regarding women, she smiled with melancholy irony.

And she admired her father the more.
After all, she was not so badly married.

Her husband was as good as any other man.

He had become quite bearable.