Damaged Goods | Page 7

giving her sufficient money to take care of these unfortunate people. Among
people of his class it was considered proper to take such things if one paid for them.

All the family of this working girl were grateful to him. They adored him, and they called
him Uncle Raoul (for of course he had not been so foolish as to give them his true name).
Since George was paying for Lizette, he felt he had the right to control her life. He gave
her fair warning concerning his attitude. If she deceived him he would leave her
immediately. He told this to her relatives also, and so he had them all watching her. She
was never trusted out alone. Every Sunday George went to spend the day with his little
"family," so that his coming became almost a matter of tradition. He interested her in
church affairs--mass and vespers were her regular occasions for excursions. George
rented two seats, and the grandmother went with her to the services. The simple people
were proud to see their name engraved upon the brass plate of the pew.
The reason for all these precautions was George's terror of disease. He had been warned
by his father as to the dangers which young men encounter in their amours. And these
lessons had sunk deep into George's heart; he had made up his mind that whatever his
friends might do, he, for one, would protect himself.
That did not mean, of course, that he intended to live a virtuous life; such was the custom
among young men of his class, not had it probably ever occurred to his father that it was
possible for a young man to do such a thing. The French have a phrase, "l'homme moyen
sensuel"--the average sensual man. And George was such a man. He had no noble
idealisms, no particular reverence for women. The basis of his attitude was a purely
selfish one; he wanted to enjoy himself, and at the same time to keep out of trouble.
He did not find any happiness in the renunciation which he imposed upon himself; he had
no religious ideas about it. On the contrary, he suffered keenly, and was bitter because he
had no share in the amusements of his friends. He stuck to his work and forced himself to
keep regular hours, preparing for his law examinations. But all the time he was longing
for adventures. And, of course, this could not go on forever, for the motive of fear alone
is not sufficient to subdue the sexual urge in a full- blooded young man.
The affair with Lizette might have continued much longer had it not been for the fact that
his father died. He died quite suddenly, while George was away on a trip. The son came
back to console his broken-hearted mother, and in the two week they spent in the country
together the mother broached a plan to him. The last wish of the dying man had been that
his son should be fixed in life. In the midst of his intense suffering he had been able to
think about the matter, and had named the girl whom he wished George to marry.
Naturally, George waited with some interest to learn who this might be. He was surprised
when his mother told him that it was his cousin, Henriette Loches.
He could not keep his emotion from revealing itself in his face. "It doesn't please you?"
asked his mother, with a tone disappointment.
"Why no, mother," he answered. "It's not that. It just surprises me."
"But why?" asked the mother. "Henriette is a lovely girl and a good girl."
"Yes, I know," said George; "but then she is my cousin, and--" He blushed a little with

embarrassment. "I had never thought of her in that way."
Madame Dupont laid her hand upon her son's. "Yes, George," she said tenderly. "I know.
You are such a good boy."
Now, of course, George did not feel that he was quite such a good boy; but his mother
was a deeply religious woman, who had no idea of the truth about the majority of men.
She would never have got over the shock if he had told her about himself, and so he had
to pretend to be just what she thought him.
"Tell me," she continued, after a pause, "have you never felt the least bit in love?"
"Why no--I don't think so," George stammered, becoming conscious of a sudden rise of
temperature in his cheeks.
"Because," said his mother, "it is really time that you were settled in life. Your father said
that we should have seen to it before, and now it is my duty to see to it. It is not good for
you to live alone