I hate you, hate you, hate you! And you only sit there silent--
silent and indifferent; indifferent whether it's new moon or waning
moon, Christmas or New Year's, whether others are happy or unhappy;
without power to hate or to love; as quiet as a stork by a rat
hole--you couldn't scent your prey and capture it, but you could
lie in wait for it! You sit here in your corner of the cafe--did
you know it's called "The Rat Trap" for you?--and read the papers
to see if misfortune hasn't befallen some one, to see if some one
hasn't been given notice at the theatre, perhaps; you sit here and
calculate about your next victim and reckon on your chances of
recompense like a pilot in a shipwreck. Poor Amelie, I pity you,
nevertheless, because I know you are unhappy, unhappy like one who
has been wounded, and angry because you are wounded. I can't be
angry with you, no matter how much I want to be--because you come
out the weaker one. Yes, all that with Bob doesn't trouble me. What
is that to me, after all? And what difference does it make whether
I learned to drink chocolate from you or some one else.
[Sips a spoonful from her cup.]
Besides, chocolate is very healthful. And if you taught me how to
dress--tant mieux!--that has only made me more attractive to my
husband; so you lost and I won there. Well, judging by certain
signs, I believe you have already lost him; and you certainly
intended that I should leave him--do as you did with your fiance
and regret as you now regret; but, you see, I don't do that--we
mustn't be too exacting.
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