Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part IV - II
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II
Arrived in Switzerland, we took rooms in a private
hotel, so as to avoid all quarrels on the subject of house-
keeping.
Marie made up for lost time, for being alone now, and
unbacked by sj-mpathising friends, I was again in her
power. From the very beginning she posed as the keeper
of a harmless lunatic. She made the acquaintance of the
doctor, informed proprietor and proprietress, the wait-
resses, the servants, the other guests. I was shut off from
association with intelligent people of my own kindred who
understood me. At meals she revenged herself for the
silence to which she had been condemned in Paris. She
missed no opportunity of joining in the conversation, and
literally inundated us with a never-ending stream of
foolish twaddle which, she knew, irritated me horribly.
And since the uncultured, commonplace crowd among
whom we lived always very politely agreed with her,
there w^as nothing for me to do but to keep silence ; they
regarded my silence as a proof of my inferiority.
She looked ill and fragile, and appeared to be suffering
from a great grief ; she treated me with dislike and
contempt.
All I loved, she detested : she was disappointed with the
Alps because I admired them ; she scorned the beautiful
walks ; she avoided being alone with me ; she made a
practice of anticipating my wishes so as to thwai-t them ;
she said Yes whenever I said No, and vice versa; there
was no doubt that she hated me.
Alone and solitary in a strange country, I was compelled
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