United States or Guatemala ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Struboff glared at him; Coralie smiled slightly. An inkling of Wetter's chosen part came into my mind. He had elected to make Struboff uncomfortable; he did not choose that the fat man should enjoy his victory in peace. My emotions chimed in with his resolve, but reason suggested that the ethical merits were more on Struboff's side.
Vohrenlorf looked up with a hopeless dazed expression. Varvilliers was at a loss. Wetter's figure and face were still unmoved. A sudden idea came into my head. "There is no need for M. Wetter to be ruined," said I. "Whatever the result may be it shall seem an accident." Wetter looked up with a quick jerk of his head. I glanced at the clock. "In four hours it will be light," I said.
I am unwilling to do either her or my sister an injustice, but I wondered then how much thought they were giving to the old friend we had lost. It seemed to me that they thought little of the man we knew, the man himself; not grief, but fear was dominant in them. Wetter's saying, "You're king at last," came into my mind. Perhaps their mood was intelligible enough and did not want excuse.
The fat man looked from one to the other of us in an obtuse suspicion of our hilarity. "The king admired my wife's talents," said he. "We intend to visit Forstadt next year." "Do you?" said I, and Wetter's peal broke out again. "The king will find my wife's talent much increased by training," pursued Struboff. "Damn your wife's talent!" said Wetter, quite suddenly.
For passion can simulate right, even as in some natures the love of right becomes a turbulent passion in the end, like most of such, destructive of itself. "Then I am yours, and you are mine? And the Embassy is Wetter's?" "The Embassy is whose you like," she cried, "if the rest is true." "It is Wetter's. Do you know why? That everybody may know how I am yours."
Varvilliers and Vohrenlorf, men of unblemished honour, were firm in their assertions and unshaken in their evidence; Wetter's obvious consternation at the event was invoked as confirmatory evidence. As soon as I was able to give my account, my voice and authority were cast decisively into the same scale. Men might suspect and women might gossip.
That point of view was my secret until Wetter's quick wit penetrated it; he worked days before he found out why I was drawn to the impresario; his discovery was hailed with a sudden laugh and a glance, but he put nothing into words. Both to him and to me the thing was richer for reticence; in the old phrase, the drapery enhanced the charms which it did not hide.
I heard what they said, though I was unconscious of speaking myself. "It wasn't!" Coralie cried. "On my honour, a pure accident," said Varvilliers. Then the whole scene faded away from me. There can be no doubt that it was Wetter's intention to take his own life in case he hit me. I had discovered this resolution; Varvilliers was not behind me.
I laid my hand on Wetter's shoulder, saying: "My dear friend, have you forgotten me Baron de Neberhausen?" He looked up with a start, but when he saw me his eyes softened. He clasped my hand. "Neberhausen?" he said. "Yes; we met in Forstadt." "To be sure," he laughed. "May I present my friend to you? M. le Baron de Neberhausen, M. Struboff. You will know Struboff's name.
What in Heaven's name made him Wetter's companion? What in Heaven's name made me such a fool as to ask the question? Men like Struboff can have but one merit, and, to be fair, but one serious crime. It is the same; they are the husbands of their wives. I could contain myself no longer. I rose and walked forward.
Word Of The Day