Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part III - 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.
212 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
incredibly silly arguments irritated me beyond endurance.
She affirmed that Marie’s mother, on her deathbed, had
distinctly expressed the wish that she should share my
wife’s inheritance. I failed to see what that had to do
with me, for the ’’fortune" which she was to inherit
existed in imagination only ; but the fact remained that
the burden of the aunt, who was lazy and incapable, was
added to my other burdens. I gave way in the matter;
I even agreed to guarantee a sum of money, raised by an
older friend, adventuress number one, for my beloved wife
had hit on the idea of selling me her favour. I admitted
everything for the privilege of kissing her ; I admitted
having wasted her dowry, squandered her aunt’s
"fortune," ruined her theatrical career by marrying her,
even having undermined her health.
Holy matrimony was degraded to legal prostitution.
She carefully treasured up all my admissions, and
worked them into a legend which the papers greedily
snapped up later on, and which was assiduously spread by
all those of her friends whom I had turned out, one after
the other.
My ruin had become an obsession with her. At the
end of the year I found that I had given her twelve thou-
sand crowns for household expenses, and I was compelled
to ask my publishers for a sum in advance.
Whenever I reproached her with her extravagance, she
invariably replied
—
" Well, why have children and make your wife miser-
able ? When I consider that I gave up a splendid position
to marry you. ..."
But I had an answer to that taunt
—
"As Baroness, my dear, your husband gave you three
thousand crowns and debts. I give you three times as
much, more than three times as much."
She said nothing, but she turned her back upon me.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
