Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part III - XI
<< 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.
THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL 221
deceived to such an extent that they dig their own graves.
Fools !
While the misery of my married life slowly unfolded
itself, as a ribbon winds off a spool, I took advantage of
my literary reputation to tilt at foolish prejudice and
attack antiquated superstitions. I wrote a volume of
satires. I threw a handful of pebbles at the principal
charlatans of the metropolis, not forgetting the sexless
women.
I was at once denounced as a writer of pamphlets.
Marie was strong in her disapproval, and immediately
made friends wdth the enemy. She was respectability
personified, and complained bitterly of the misery of
being tied to a scandalmonger ! She lost sight of the fact
that the satirist was also a famous novelist and had made
a name as a playwright.
She was a saint, a martyr. She deplored the dismal
prospects of her unhappy children. They would have to
bear the consequences of the dishonourable actions of a
father who had squandered their mother’s dowry, ruined
her theatrical career, ill-treated her. . . .
One day a paragraph appeared in one of the papers
stating that I was insane ; a brochure, written to order
and paid for in cash, spread abroad the martyrdom of
Marie and her friends ; not one of the absurdities which
her little brain had hatched was forgotten.
She had won the game.
And as she saw me go down before my enemies, she
assumed the rôle of the tender mother, weeping over the
prodigal son. Amiable to all the world, except to me, she
drew all my friends over to her side, false ones and true
ones alike. Isolated, in the power of a vampire, I aban-
doned all attempt at defence. Could I raise my hand
against the mother of my children, the woman whom I
loved ?
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
