Married Part 48

"A very risky doctrine as far as a woman's interests are concerned,"

says the husband, "for it follows that in similar circ.u.mstances a man is justified in doing the same thing. The latter happens much more frequently than the former."

"I don't understand what you mean," says the wife.

"That's neither Luther's fault nor mine," answers the husband. "Just as it is not necessarily the husband's fault if he doesn't get on with his wife. Possibly he would get on excellently with another woman."

A dead silence follows; the diners rise from their chairs.

The husband retires to his own room. His wife and her friend leave the dining-room together and sit down in the pavilion.

"What brutality!" exclaims the friend. "How can you, a sensitive, intelligent woman, consent to be the servant of that selfish brute?"

"He has never understood me," sighs the wife. Her satisfaction in being able to p.r.o.nounce these d.a.m.ning words is so great, that it drowns the memory of a reply which her husband has given her again and again:

"Do you imagine that your thoughts are so profound that I, a man with a subtle brain, am unable to fathom them? Has it never occurred to you that it may be your shallowness which prevents you from understanding me?"

He sits down in his room, alone. He suffers from remorse, as if he had struck his mother. But she struck the first blow; she has struck him blow after blow, for many years, and never once before has he retaliated.

This coa.r.s.e, heartless, cynical woman, in whose keeping he confided his whole soul with all its thoughts and emotions, was conscious of his superiority, and therefore she humiliated him, dragged him down, pulled him by the hair, covered him with abuse. Was it a crime that he struck back when she publicly taunted him? Yes--he felt as guilty as if he had murdered his dearest friend.

The twilight of the warm summer night deepens and the moon rises.

The sound of music from the drawing-room floats through his window. He goes into the garden and sits down under a walnut tree. Alone! The chords of the piano blend with the words of the song:

When the veil of night was drawn And crowded earth, mysterious sea Became one sweet, enchanted ground For us, until the starless dawn Dissolved the failing moon--then we In one long ecstasy were bound.

Now, I, alone in silence and in pain Weep for the ache of well-remembered bliss, For you who never can return again, For you, my spring time, for your love, your kiss.

He strolls through the garden and looks through the window. There she sits, his living poem, which he has composed for his own delight. She sings with tears in her voice. The ladies on the sofas look at one another significantly.

But behind the laurel bushes on a garden seat two men are sitting, smoking, and chatting. He can hear what they say.

"Nothing but the effect of the cognac."

"Yes, they say that she drinks."

"And blame the husband for it."

"That's a shame! She took to drinking in Julian's studio. She was going to be an artist, you know, but she didn't succeed. When they rejected her picture at the exhibition, she threw herself at the head of this poor devil and married him to hide her defeat."

"Yes, I know, and made his life a burden until he is but the shadow of his former self. They started with a home of their own in Paris, and he kept two maids for her; still she called herself his servant.

Although she was mistress over everything, she insisted that she was but his slave She neglected the house, the servants robbed them right and left, and he saw their home threatened with ruin without being able to move a finger to avert it. She opposed every suggestion he made; if he wanted black, she wanted white. In this way she broke his will and shattered, his nerves. He broke up his home and took her to a boarding-house to save her the trouble of housekeeping and enable her to devote herself entirely to her art. But she won't touch a brush and goes out all day long with her friend. She has tried to come between him and his work, too, and drive him to drink, but she has not managed it; therefore she hates him, for he is the better of the two."

"But the husband must be a fool," remarks the other man.

"He is a fool wherever his wife is concerned, but he is no exception to the rule. They have been married for twelve years and he is still in love with her. The worst of it is that he is a strong man, who commanded the respect of Parliament and Press, is breaking up. I talked to him this morning; he is ill, to say the least."

"Yes; I heard that she tried to have him locked up in a asylum, and that her friend did everything in her power to a.s.sist her."

"And he works himself to death, so that she can enjoy herself."

"Do you know why she treats him so contemptuously? Because he cannot give her all the luxury she wants. 'A man who cannot give his wife all she wants,' she said the other day at dinner, 'ce n'est pas grand'

chose.' I believe that she counted on his booming her as an artist.

Unfortunately his political views prevent him from being on good terms with the leading papers, and, moreover, he has no friends in artistic circles; his interests lie elsewhere."

"I see; she wanted to make use of him for her own ends; when he resisted she threw him over; but he serves his purpose as a breadwinner."

Now, I, alone in silence and in pain, Weep for the ache of well-remembered bliss....

comes her voice from the drawing-room.

"Bang!" the sound came from behind the walnut tree. It was followed by a snapping of branches and a crunching of sand.

The talkers jumped to their feet.

The body of a well-dressed man lay across the road, with his head against the leg of a chair.

The song stopped abruptly. The ladies rushed into the garden. The friend poured a few drops of eau de Cologne which she held in her hand, on the face of the prostrate man.

When she realised that it was no fainting fit, she started back.

"Horrible!" she exclaimed, putting her hand up to her face.

The elder of the two men, who was stooping over; the dead body, looked up.

"Be silent, woman!" he exclaimed.

"What a brute!" said the friend.

The dead man's wife fainted, but was caught in the arms of her friend and tenderly nursed by the rest of the women.

"Send for a doctor!" shouted the elder of the two men. "Run!"

n.o.body took any notice; everybody was busy with the unconscious wife.

"To bring such grief on his wife! Oh! what a man! What a man!" sobbed the friend.

"Has no one a thought for the dying man? All this' fuss because a woman has fainted! Give her some brandy, that will revive her!"

"The wretched man has deserved his fate!" said the friend emphatically.

"He indeed deserved a better fate than to fall into your hands alive.

Shame on you, woman, and all honour to the breadwinner!"

He let the hand of the dead man go and rose to his, feet.

"It's all over!" he said.