Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/100

 he went to Italy, returning there in 1841 and again in 1842. In 1840 he married Mdlle. Ida Ferrier, a fascinating woman but a second-rate actress, who appeared in her husband's tragedy-drama "Caligula," and other subsequent plays. The marriage was a very ill-advised one, and finally extravagance and irreconcilable differences of character combined caused the lady to leave her husband and go to live in Florence. She never returned to France, and died in Italy in 1859.

The "Comtesse Dash," an intimate friend of Dumas and his wife, has given us, if not the real excuse for his "immorality," at least the true explanation of it:

"A woman who would have loved him enough to love him as he wished to be loved (she writes in her "Mémoires d'Autres"), a woman who would have had the tact to close her eyes to his pranks, and make home comfortable, so that he could invite his friends there; and above all, who would not have disturbed him in his work—that woman would have been perfectly and eternally happy with him."

The character of Madame Dumas has been clearly drawn for us by the same pen. "Ida" was a beautiful woman of mediocre abilities and with a jealous, narrow and contemptible nature. She tolerated little Marie, Dumas's daughter, but hated young Alexandre, because of the love his