She suggests nothing but the
penitentiary. When she saw that there were three of us, she flew into a
whirlwind of passion, and screamed French that I was glad to find I
could not wholly understand. Her dialect must come from the worst class
of Parisian thieves. I should have been glad to understand less than I
did. Every now and then she interrupted this Billingsgate, and seemed to
think that her dignity required a loftier style, and she poured out on
us whole pages of cheap melodrama. She began by flinging her fur cap and
cloak on the floor and striking a stage attitude. She wanted to know
who we were; by what right did we mix ourselves in this affair and come
between a villain and his victim! Then she turned on Wharton and began
gesticulating and throwing herself into contortions like a Maenad,
repeating again and again that he was her husband, an 'infame,' a
'lache,' and that she would take his life if she were not given her
rights. She drew herself up in all her height, and growled in her
deepest voice: 'Je vais t'ecr-r-r-raser!' Then she changed her tone and
sobbed violently that on second thoughts she preferred to kill herself,
and finally tore a small stage dagger from her breast and proposed to
kill us all and herself too."
"How many did she manage in the end?" asked Mr. Dudley.
"How did Mr. Wharton bear it?" asked Esther.
"Wharton stood it very well," replied Hazard. "He was sitting near her,
and now and then she made a rush at him as though she really meant to
strike him.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113