Excerpt from The Novels, Tales, and Letters of Prosper Mérimée This husband was not boorish. He was neither stupid nor foolish. Still there may have been, perhaps, a mingling of all those qualities in him. If she had recalled the past she might have re membered that once upon a time she had found him but now he bored her. Every thing about him seemed to her repulsive. His way of eating, Of drinking coffee, of speaking, gave her nervous shudders. They seldom met or talked together except at table; but they dined together several times a week and that was suffi cient to keep Julie's aversion alive.