If he tried it, even with a woman so perfect, he would perish of _ennui_.

For him marriage must not mean repose, inevitably tending to drowsiness, but the mutual incitement of vigorous minds.

Passion--yes, there must be passion, at all events to begin with; passion not impossible of revival in days subsequent to its first indulgence.

Beauty in the academic sense he no longer demanded; enough that the face spoke eloquently, that the limbs were vigorous.
Let beauty perish if it cannot ally itself with mind; be a woman what else she may, let her have brains and the power of using them! In that demand the maturity of his manhood expressed itself.

For casual amour the odalisque could still prevail with him; but for the life of wedlock, the durable companionship of man and woman, intellect was his first requirement.
A woman with man's capability of understanding and reasoning; free from superstition, religious or social; far above the ignoble weaknesses which men have been base enough to idealize in her sex.