Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part IV - III
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260 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
enlightened to appreciate my arguments against the
unsexed.
But certain events happened which made my hence-
forth notorious mania break out in irrepressible fury.
The hotel boasted of an album which contained carica-
tures of all the well-known Scandinavians, sketched by
Scandinavian artists. My portrait was amongst them,
adorned with a horn cleverly contrived by the manipulation
of a lock of hair.
The artist was one of our most intimate friends. I
concluded that my Avife’s infidelity was an open secret ;
everybody knew it, everybody except myself. I asked the
proprietor of the collection for an explanation.
Marie had taken care to inform him of my mental
condition soon after our arrival, and he swore that the
decoration of my forehead existed in my imagination only,
that there Avas no trace of it in the sketch, and that I
had worked myself into a passion for no reason whatever.
I had to be content Avitli this explanation until I was
able to obtain more reliable information.
One evening we were sipping our coffee in the hotel
garden in the company of an old friend who had just arrived
from Sweden. It was still broad daylight, and from
where I sat I could watch every expression on Marie’s
face. The old man gave us all the latest news. Amongst
other names he mentioned that of tlie doctor Avho had
treated my wife by massage. She did not let the name
pass without comment, but interrupted him with a
defiant
—
"Ah! you know the doctor? "
" Oh yes, he is a very popular man. ... I mean to
say he enjoys a certain reputation
"
"As a conceited fool," I interposed.
Marie’s cheeks grew pale ; a cynical smile drew up the
corners of her mouth, so that her white teeth became
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