Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part III - V
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200 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
tickled. I felt a sudden fear ; an inexplicable terror and
a wave of passionate anger swept over me ; I opened the
door quickly and caught Marie, with her hands on the
girl’s shoulders, in the act of pressing her lips upon her
white throat.
"What are you doing? " I exclaimed furiously, "are
you mad? "
"I am only teasing her," answered Marie cynically.
" What has that to do with you? "
" It has everything to do with me ! Come here !
"
And under four eyes I explained to her the nature of
her offence.
But she accused me of a vicious imagination, told me
that I was perverted and saw vice everywhere.
It is a fatal thing to catch a woman red-handed. She
deluged me with abuse.
In the course of the discussion I reminded her of the
love she had confessed to have felt for her cousin, pretty
Matilda. With an expression of angelic innocence she
replied that she herself had been amazed at the strength
of her feelings, as she had never thought it possible for
one woman to be so deeply in love with another.
This naïve confession reassured me. I remembered that
one evening, at my brother-in-law’s, Marie had quite
openly spoken of her passionate love for her cousin, with-
out blushing, without being conscious that there was
anything at all unusual in her conduct.
But I was angry. I recommended her to beware of
fancies which, though harmless to begin with, degenerated
only too often into vice and led to disastrous results.
She made some inane reply, treated me like a fool—she
loved treating me as if I were the most ignorant of
ignoramuses—and finished off by saying that I had been
telling her a pack of lies.
AVhat was the use of explaining to her that offences of
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