Volume III Part 38 (2/2)

”You great booby! The idea ofthem put back the pins where they found them”

UNDER THE YOKE

As he was a ular habits, and of a si to disturb the even tenor of his life, Monsieur de Loubancourt suffered retted his lost happiness, was angry with fate, which separated united couples so brutally, and which made choice of a tranquil existence, whose sleepy quietude had not hitherto been troubled by any cares or chimeras, in order to rob it of its happiness

Had he been younger, he ht, perhaps, have been tempted to forain But when a h, for they have soed on his dull and weary existence, escaped from all those familiar objects which constantly recalled the past to hi an interest in anything, without beco intimate with anyone, even te funereal in his eternal black clothes

He was generally alone, though on rare occasions he was accompanied by his only son, who used to yawn by stealth, and who see the hours, as if he were perfor some hateful, enforced duty in spite of himself

Two years of this crystallization went past, and one was as monotonous, and as void of incident, as the other

One evening, however, in a boarding-house at Cannes, where he was staying on his wanderings, there was a young wo the new arrivals, who sat next to hi, a beautiful figure, and large, blue eyes with deep rings round them, but which, nevertheless, looked like the first star which shi+nes in the twilight

All reh he usually took no notice of woly or pretty; he looked at her and listened to her He felt less lonely by her side, though he did not knohy He trembled with instinctive and confused happiness, just as if in some distant country he had found some female friend or relative, who at last would understand hiuage about everything that a man leaves behind hie affinity had thrown therief in contact? What uine and so calm, and incited hied him on to resistless curiosity?

She was an experienced traveler, who had no illusions, and was in search of adventures; one of those woe their name, and who, as they have made up their minds to swindle if luck is not on their side, act a continual part, an adventuress, who could put on every accent; who for the sake of her course, transformed herself into a Slav, or into an American, or simply into a provincial; as ready to take part in any coed to waste her strength and her brains on fruitless struggles or on wretched expedients Thus she ienarian's mind, and the illusions which attracted him to her, and scented the spoils which offered themselves to her cupidity of their own accord, and divined under what guise she ought to show herself, to make herself accepted and loved

She initiated hirief which were unknown to hi of the shoulders, and a heartrending ss In a word, she triuht still have led with the affectionate pity hich that poor, solitary heart, which, so full of bitterness, overflowed

And so, for the first time since he had become a er, the old man confided in another person, poured out his old heart into that soul which seee where he could be cheered up, and where the wounds of his heart could be healed, and he longed to throw himself into those sisterly arrief there

Monsieur de Loubancourt, who had ment, had lived quietly and peacefully in the country, norant of the female wiles of temptations, offered to creatures like Wanda Pulska, as in soil on which any seed will grow

She attached herself to hirees, part of his life She showed herself to be a charitable woman who devoted herself to an unhappy man, who endeavored to console hi to be the inseparable companion of the old man in his slow, daily walks She never appeared to tire of his anecdotes and reminiscences, and she played cards with him She waited on him carefully when he was confined to his bed, appeared to have no sex, and transforh she handled hinorant of evil She acted like an innocent young girl, who had just been confirerous hours and certain spots in which to be sentiitated and disconcerted hiers to his feverish hands, which pressed and held them in a tender clasp

And then, there ild declarations of love, prayers and sobs which frightened her; wild _adieux_, which were not followed by his departure, but which brought about a touching reconciliation and the first kiss, and then, one night, while they were traveling together, he forced open the door of her bedroom at the hotel, which she had locked, and came in like a mad man There was the phantom of violence, and the fallacious submission of a woman, as overcoer, but who accepted the yoke of her master and lover

And then, the conquest of the body after the conquest of the heart, which forged his chain link by link, pleasures which besot and corrupt old men, and dry up their brains, until at last he allowed himself to be induced, almost unconsciously, to make an odious and stupid will

Informed, perhaps, by anonyether at a distance frons of life, Monsieur de Loubancourt's son joined the for that attack for a long time, waited for it fearlessly

She did not see and affable towards the new coirl, who took life as it ca from the consequences of a fault, and did not trouble her head about the future

He envied his father, and grudged hierous influence, and to treat the wooverned her lover as his sovereign mistress, as an enemy, he shrunk froht of nothing but treason and of an odious partnershi+p

She ed Monsieur de Loubancourt, molded hi hihtest favor, induced hirew jealous, watched theue, and found ed, threatened and i, when she knew that her lover had co in a dark cupboard in order to watch the-rooht, of beautiful flowers, with this young fellow, five-and-twenty He threw hiht her to run aith hi him to reason and repulsed him, and told him in a loud and very distinct voice, how she loved Monsieur de Loubancourt, he seized her wrists with brutal violence, andwords of love and lust, he pushed her towards one of the couches

”Let o ie of a woo, or I shall call the servants to my assistance”