Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part I - VIII
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
108 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
Matilda to their heart’s content, praising her domesticity,
her skill in needlework. The Baron, who had drunk
several glasses of punch, burst out into extravagant
eulogies and deplored, with alcoholic tears, the unkind
treatment to which the ’’dear child" was subjected at
home. But when apparently in the veiy depth of sympa-
thetic sorrow, he suddenly pulled out his watch and
prepared to leave us, as if called away ])y the stern voice
of duty.
"You must excuse me, gentlemen," he said, "but I
have promised Baby to meet her and see her home. Don’t
let me disturb you, I shall be back in an hour."
The old Baron, his father, vainly tried to detain him ;
his artful son insisted on keeping his word and slipped
away, after having extracted a promise from me to await
his return.
We remained at table for another quarter of an hour
and then went into the drawing-room ; the two old
gentlemen soon left us and retired to the uncle’s room,
which the nephew had fitted up for him a little while
ago.
I cursed fate for having caught me in a trap which I
had done my utmost to avoid. I steeled my throbbing
heart ;
proudly, as a cock raises his comb, I raised my
head ; my hair l)ristled like the hair of a sheep dog, and I
determined to crush at the outset any attempt to create
a tearful or amorous scene.
Leaning against the stove I smoked my cigar, silent,
cold and stiff, awaiting events.
The Baroness was the first to speak.
" Why do you hate me ?
"
" I don’t hate you."
’•
Remember how you treated me only this morning !
"
"Please, don’t speak of it!
"
The unaccustomed rudeness of my replies, for which
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
