Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part IV - II
<< 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.
252 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
although she had only prayed for dogs, fowls and rabbits,
the thought of this baptism, which she meant to elaborate
into a great festival, completely obsessed her. I had no
doubt that the motive which actuated her was the thought
of my dislike to ceremonies which I considered insincere,
and which are opposed to all my convictions.
But she implored me with tears in her eyes, appealed to
my kind and generous nature. In the end I yielded to
her importunity, on condition, however, that I was not
expected to be present at the ceremony. She kissed my
hand, thanked me effusively for what she called a mark of
my affection for her, and assured me that her baby’s
baptism was a matter of conscience to her, a very vital
point.
The ceremony took place. After her return from
church, she ridiculed the " farce " in the presence of many
witnesses, posed as a free-thinker, made fun of the cere-
monial, and even boasted that she knew nothing whatever
of the church into which her son had just been
received.
She had won the game and could afford to laugh at the
whole business; the "vital question" transformed itself
into a victory over me, a victory which served to
strengthen the hands of my adversaries.
Once again I had humiliated myself, laid myself open
to attack, in order to humour the fads and fancies of an
overbearing woman.
But my measure of calamities was not yet full. A
Scandinavian lady appeared on the scene, full of the
mania called the " Emancipation of Woman." She and
Marie became friends at once, and between them I had
no chance.
She brought with her the cowardly book of a sexless
writer who, rejected by all parties, became a traitor
to his own sex by embracing the cause of all the
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
