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86 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
flowing, she deplored my illness, which she regarded as the
result of overwork, and advised me to return to toAvn, and
put off my journey until the spring.
She was beautiful to-day. In her closely-fitting fur
coat, with its long and supple hairs, she looked like a
llama. The sea-breezes had brought the blood to her
cheeks, and in her eyes, magnified by the excitement of
her visit, I could read an expression of infinite tenderness.
In vain I begged her not to alarm herself on my account,
and assured her that I had almost fully recovered. She
found that I looked like a corpse, declared me unfit for
work, and treated me like a child. And how sweetly she
played the part of a mother ! The tone of her voice was
a caress ; she playfully used terms of endearment ; she
wrapped her shawl round me ; at table she spread my
dinner-napkin over my knees, poured out some wine for
me, looked after me in every way. I wondered why she
did not thus devote herself to her child rather than to the
man who was all the time striving to hide his passion,
which threatened to defy all control.
In this disguise of the sick child, it seemed to me that
I was like the wolf who, after having devoured the grand-
mother, lies down on her bed waiting for Little Red
Riding-hood, that he may devour her also.
I blushed before this unsophisticated and sincere hus-
band, who overwhelmed me Asith kindness, asked for no
explanations. And yet I was not at fault. I obstinately
hardened my heart, and received all the attentions which
the Baroness showered on me with an almost insulting
indifference.
At dessert, when the time for the return journey had
come, the Baron proposed that I should return with them.
He offered me a room in his house which, he said, was wait-
ing to receive me. I am glad to say that my answer was
a decided refusal. Terrified of this dangerous playing
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