"Irene, Irene, what is the matter with you? I implore of you to tell me what is the matter with you?"
Then, in the midst of her sobs she murmured,
"I can no longer live like this."
He did not understand.
"Live like this? What do you mean?"...
"Yes. I can no longer live like this.... I have endured so much.... He struck me this afternoon."
"Who, your husband?"
"Yes, my husband."
"Ha!"
He was astonished, having never suspected that her husband could be brutal. He was a man of the world, of the better cla.s.s, a clubman, a lover of horses, a theater goer, and an expert swordsman; he was known, talked about, appreciated everywhere, having very courteous manners, a very mediocre intellect, an absence of education and of the real culture needed in order to think like all well-bred people, and finally a respect for all conventional prejudices.
He appeared to devote himself to his wife, as a man ought to do in the case of wealthy and well-bred people. He displayed enough of anxiety about her wishes, her health, her dresses, and, beyond that, left her perfectly free.
Randal, having become Irene"s friend, had a right to the affectionate hand-clasp which every husband endowed with good manners owes to his wife"s intimate acquaintances. Then, when Jacques, after having been for some time the friend, became the lover, his relations with the husband were more cordial, as is fitting.
Jacques had never dreamed that there were storms in this household, and he was scared at this unexpected revelation.
He asked,
"How did it happen? tell me."
Thereupon she related a long history, the entire history of her life since the day of her marriage, the first discussion arising out of a mere nothing, then accentuating itself with all the estrangement which grows up each day between two opposite types of character.
Then came quarrels, a complete separation, not apparent, but real; next, her husband showed himself aggressive, suspicious, violent. Now, he was jealous, jealous of Jacques, and this day even, after a scene, he had struck her.
She added with decision, "I will not go back to him. Do with me what you like."
Jacques sat down opposite to her, their knees touching each other. He caught hold of her hands.
"My dear love, you are going to commit a gross, an irreparable folly.
If you want to quit your husband, put wrongs on one side, so that your situation as a woman of the world may be saved."
She asked, as she cast at him a restless glance:
"Then, what do you advise me?"
"To go back home and to put up with your life there till the day when you can obtain either a separation or a divorce, with the honors of war."
"Is not this thing which you advise me to do a little cowardly?"
"No; it is wise and reasonable. You have a high position, a reputation to safeguard, friends to preserve, and relations to deal with. You must not lose all these through a mere caprice."
She rose up and said with violence,
"Well, no! I cannot have any more of it! It is at an end! it is at an end!"
Then, placing her two hands on her lover"s shoulders, and looking at him straight in the face, she asked,
"Do you love me?"
"Yes."
"Really and truly?"
"Yes."
"Then keep me."
He exclaimed,
"Keep you? In my own house? Here? Why you are mad. It would mean losing you for ever; losing you beyond hope of recall! You are mad!"
She replied slowly and seriously, like a woman who feels the weight of her words,
"Listen, Jacques. He has forbidden me to see you again, and I will not play this comedy of coming secretly to your house. You must either lose me or take me."
"My dear Irene, in that case, obtain your divorce, and I will marry you."
"Yes, you will marry me in--two years at the soonest. Yours is a patient love."
"Look here! Reflect! If you remain here, he"ll come to-morrow to take you away, and seeing that he is your husband, seeing that he has right and law on his side."
"I did not ask you to keep me in your own house, Jacques, but to take me anywhere you like. I thought you loved me enough to do that. I have made a mistake. Good-bye!"
She turned round and went towards the door so quickly that he was only able to catch hold of her when she was outside the room.
"Listen, Irene."
She struggled and did not want to listen to him any longer, her eyes full of tears, and with these words only on her lips,
"Let me alone! let me alone! let me alone!"
He made her sit down by force, and falling once more on his knees at her feet, he now brought forward a number of arguments and counsels to make her understand the folly and terrible risk of her project. He omitted nothing which he deemed it necessary to say to convince her, finding even in his very affection for her motives of persuasion.
As she remained silent and cold, he begged of her, implored of her to listen to him, to trust him, to follow his advice.
When he had finished speaking, she only replied:
"Are you disposed to let me go away now? Take away your hands, so that I may rise up."
"Look here, Irene."