Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales | Page 5

in his

arms, and threatens me with his conjugal rights. This upsets me,
torments me, and annoys me.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Madeline you torture me.
MME. DE SALLUS [_quickly_]
And what about me? Do you think that I do not suffer? I know that I
am not exactly a faithful woman since I received your addresses, but I
have, and shall retain, a single heart. It is either you or he. It will never
be you and he. For me that would be infamy--the greatest infamy of a
guilty woman, the sharing of her heart--a thing that debases her. One
may fall, perhaps, because there are ditches along the wayside and it is
not always easy to follow the right path. But if one falls, that is no
reason to throw oneself in the abyss.
JACQUES DE RANDOL [_takes her in his arms and kisses her_]
I simply adore you!
MME. DE SALLUS [_melts_]
And I, too, love you dearly, Jacques, and that is the reason why I fear.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
But, tell me, Madeline how long has it been since your husband
reformed?
MME. DE SALLUS
Possibly fifteen days or three weeks.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Without relapse?
MME. DE SALLUS
Without relapse.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
I will explain the mystery. The fact of the matter is this, your husband
has simply become a widower.
MME. DE SALLUS
What do you say?
JACQUES DE RANDOL
I mean that your husband is unattached just now, and seeks to spend his
leisure time with his wife.
MME. DE SALLUS
But I tell you that he is in love with me.
JACQUES DE RANDOL

Yes--yes--and no. He is in love with you--and also with another. Tell
me, his temper is usually bad, isn't it?
MME. DE SALLUS
Execrable!
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Well, then, here is a man in love with you who shows his wonderful
return of tenderness by moods that are simply unsupportable--for they
are unsupportable, aren't they?
MME. DE SALLUS
Absolutely.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
If he wooed you with tenderness you would not feel fear. You would
say to yourself, "My turn has come at last," and then he would inspire
you with a little pity for him, for a woman has always a sneaking sort
of compassion for the man who loves her, even though that man be her
husband.
MME. DE SALLUS
Perhaps that is true.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Is he nervous, preoccupied?
MME. DE SALLUS
Yes.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
And he is abrupt with you, not to say brutal? He demands his right
without even praying for it?
MME. DE SALLUS
True.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
My darling, for the moment you are simply a substitute.
MME. DE SALLUS
Oh! no, no!
JACQUES DE RANDOL
My dearest girl, your husband's latest mistress was Madame de
Bardane, whom he left very abruptly about two months ago to run after
the Santelli.
MME. DE SALLUS
What, the singer?

JACQUES DE RANDOL
Yes, a capricious, saucy, cunning, venal little woman. A woman not at
all uncommon upon the stage, or in the world either, for that matter.
MME. DE SALLUS
Then that is why he haunts the Opéra.
JACQUES DE RANDOL [_laughs_]
Without a doubt.
MME. DE SALLUS [_dreamily_]
No, no, you are deceiving yourself.
JACQUES DE RANDOL [_emphatically_]
The Santelli resists him and repulses him; then, burdened with a heart
full of longing that has no outlet, he deigns to offer you a portion.
MME. DE SALLUS
My dear, you are dreaming. If he were in love with the Santelli, he
would not tell me that he loves me. If he were so entirely preoccupied
with this creature, he would not woo me. If he coveted her, he would
not desire me at the same time.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
How little you understand certain kinds of men! Men like your husband,
once inoculated with the poison of love,--which in them is nothing but
brutal desire,--men like him, I say, when a woman they desire escapes
or resists them, become raging beasts. They behave like madmen, like
men possessed, with arms outstretched and lips wide open. They must
love some one, no matter whom just as a mad dog with open jaws bites
anything and everybody. The Santelli has unchained this raging brute,
and you find yourself face to face with his dripping jaws. Take care!
You call that love! It is nothing but animal passion.
MME. DE SALLUS [_sarcastically_]
Really, you are very unfair to him. I am afraid jealousy is blinding you.
JACQUES DE RANDOL
Oh, no, I am not deceiving myself, you may be sure.
MME. DE SALLUS
Yes, I think you are. Formerly my husband neglected and abandoned
me, doubtless finding me very insipid; but now he finds me much
improved, and has returned to me. It is very easy