Therefore, my dear, the kiss is our strongest weapon, but we must take care not to dull it.  Do not forget that its value is only relative, purely conventional.  It continually changes according to circumstances, the state of expectancy and the ecstasy of the mind.  I will call attention to one example.

Another poet, Francois Coppee, has written a line which we all remember, a line which we find delightful, which moves our very hearts.

After describing the expectancy of a lover, waiting in a room one winter’s evening, his anxiety, his nervous impatience, the terrible fear of not seeing her, he describes the arrival of the beloved woman, who at last enters hurriedly, out of breath, bringing with her part of the winter breeze, and he exclaims: 

   Oh! the taste of the kisses first snatched through the veil.

Is that not a line of exquisite sentiment, a delicate and charming observation, a perfect truth?  All those who have hastened to a clandestine meeting, whom passion has thrown into the arms of a man, well do they know these first delicious kisses through the veil; and they tremble at the memory of them.  And yet their sole charm lies in the circumstances, from being late, from the anxious expectancy, but from the purely—­or, rather, impurely, if you prefer—­sensual point of view, they are detestable.

Think!  Outside it is cold.  The young woman has walked quickly; the veil is moist from her cold breath.  Little drops of water shine in the lace.  The lover seizes her and presses his burning lips to her liquid breath.  The moist veil, which discolors and carries the dreadful odor of chemical dye, penetrates into the young man’s mouth, moistens his mustache.  He does not taste the lips of his beloved, he tastes the dye of this lace moistened with cold breath.  And yet, like the poet, we would all exclaim: 

   Oh! the taste of the kisses first snatched through the veil.

Therefore, the value of this caress being entirely a matter of convention, we must be careful not to abuse it.

Well, my dear, I have several times noticed that you are very clumsy.  However, you were not alone in that fault; the majority of women lose their authority by abusing the kiss with untimely kisses.  When they feel that their husband or their lover is a little tired, at those times when the heart as well as the body needs rest, instead of understanding what is going on within him, they persist in giving inopportune caresses, tire him by the obstinacy of begging lips and give caresses lavished with neither rhyme nor reason.

Trust in the advice of my experience.  First, never kiss your husband in public, in the train, at the restaurant.  It is bad taste; do not give in to your desires.  He would feel ridiculous and would never forgive you.

Beware of useless kisses lavished in intimacy.  I am sure that you abuse them.  For instance, I remember one day that you did something quite shocking.  Probably you do not remember it.