[ Bastien wrinkles his nose at By, like aw, you, with no need for explicit assurance he's part of that good. That's what nearly two years of being sweetly adored will do to a man.

But, ]

I think you would have had it even without the bad first, mon étoile brillante. One way or another. You are too bright and too bold for the boredom to have gotten you. You would have gotten it. Or gotten out. No one had to be cruel to you to make it happen.