The Sardou play begins with this girl's life as the young wife of a man nearing forty, kind enough to his bride, but more or less absorbed in his serious work. She has dreamed of romantic love, intoxicating adventure, and tumultuous passions only to find none of these things in retirement with a good husband. She decided that her existence has been wrecked and ruined, and gets it into her foolish head that the only remedy is a divorce. There is a lover handy, her husband's cousin Adhemar, French in his ambition to have an "affair" with some charming married woman, and equally French in his thrift; he is a poor young man in no situation to marry any such extravagant young lady. The clear-headed husband enters into a little conspiracy with some friends to let his bored young wife have her own way, ostensibly yielding to her wishes, and he even makes things as easy and comfortable as possible for the unsuspecting lover, inviting him to the house, and announcing that he has even provided ...