riminals whom society gets rid of,
like noxious vermin.

"He died there of misery and of bitterness of spirit, with the name of
the fair-haired idol, for whom he had sacrificed himself, on his lips,
as if it had been an ecstatic prayer, and he entrusted his will to the
priest who administered extreme unction to him, and requested him to
give it to me. In it, without mentioning anybody, and without in the
least lifting the veil, he at last explained the enigma, and cleared
himself of those accusations, the terrible burden of which he had borne
until his last breath.

"I have always thought myself, though I do not know why, that the girl
married and had several charming children, whom she brought up writh the
austere strictness, and in the serious piety of former days!"

A RUPTURE

"It is just as I tell you, my dear fellow, those two poor things whom we
all of us envied, who looked like a couple of pigeons when they are
billing and cooing, and were always spooning until they made themselves
ridiculous, now hate each other just as much as they used to adore each
other. It is a complete break, and one of those which cannot be mended
like you can an old plate! And all for a bit of nonsense, for something
so funny that it ought to have brought them closer together and have
made them amuse themselves together until they were ill. But how can a
man explain himself when he is dying of jealousy, and when he keeps
repeating to his terrified mistress, 'You are lying! you are lying!'
When he shakes her, interrupts her while she is speaking, and says such
hard things to her that at last she flies into a rage, has enough of it,
becomes hard and mad, and thinks of nothing but of giving him tit for
tat and of paying him out in his own coin; does not care a straw about
destroying his happiness, sends everything to the devil, and talks a lot
of bosh which she certainly does not believe. And then, because there is
nothing so stupid and so obstinate in the whole world as lovers, neither
he nor she will take the first steps, and own to having been in the
wrong, and regret having gone too far; but both wait and watch and do
not even write a few lines about nothing, which would restore peace. No,
they let day succeed day, and there are feverish and sleepless nights
when the bed seems so hard, so cheerless and so large, and habits get
weakened and the fire of love that was still smoldering at the bottom of
the heart evaporates in sm