Nana, having been smitten with a baritone in a music hall and having been thrown over by him, wanted to commit suicide during a fit of sentimental melancholia.

She swallowed a glass of water in which she had soaked a box of matches.

This made her terribly sick but did not kill her.

The count had to nurse her and to listen to the whole story of her passion, her tearful protests and her oaths never to take to any man again.
In her contempt for those swine, as she called them, she could not, however, keep her heart free, for she always had some sweetheart round her, and her exhausted body inclined to incomprehensible fancies and perverse tastes.

As Zoe designedly relaxed her efforts the service of the house had got to such a pitch that Muffat did not dare to push open a door, to pull a curtain or to unclose a cupboard.