He had
half a mind to send for Suzette, and forgive her, and plead with her to
come back again. The door opened: she of whom he thought stood before
him, more marked and meagre than he; and the old tyranny mounted to his
eyes as he looked upon her. He knew that she had come to be pardoned, to
explain, and he determined that she should suffer to the quick.
PART V.
TYRANNY.
If this history of Ralph Flare that we are writing was not a fiction, we
might make Suzette give way at once under the burden of her grief, and
rest upon a chair, and weep. On the contrary, she did just the opposite.
She laughed.
Human nature is consistent only in its inconsistencies. She meant to
break down in the end, but wished to intimidate him by a show of
carelessness, so she first said quietly: "Monsieur Ralph, I have come to
see to my washing; it went out with yours; will you tell the proprietor
to send it to me?"
"Yes, madame."
"May I sit down, sir? It is a good way up-stairs, and I want to breathe
a minute."
"As you like, madame."
He was resting on the sofa; she took a chair just opposite. There was a
table between them, and for a little while she looked with a ghastly
playfulness into his eyes, he regarding her coldly and darkly; and then,
she laughed.
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