nd, he
shrugged his shoulders and excused himself: he had not had the
slightest intention of offending me, but he merely wished to call my
attention to the fact that this freak of mine might cost me too dearly.
Then, when I pressed him further, he remarked that 'in his opinion
there were such things as artificial violets, and that the most genuine
thing about this creature was her acting, which, unfortunately, she
kept up in real life as well as on the stage.' And then followed a
short sketch of her adventurous career, which this well-meaning man had
collected, not without considerable trouble, from numberless inquiries
at the theatres where she had appeared.

"Of course I expressed my appreciation of his kindness in the plainest
possible words, broke with him once and for all, and ran off to my
betrothed, to whom I excitedly related the whole chronicle of what I
had heard about her way of life. The idea had never even entered my
head that she would answer me in any other way than with a burst of
burning indignation, and I had already been considering what kind words
I should make use of in order to soothe her. But she heard me through
without emotion, indeed without even blushing, so that for a moment I
was fool enough to say to myself, 'I really believe she is so innocent
that she doesn't even understand what I have been telling her.' But
when I ceased speaking, she looked me full in the face, quite unabashed
and with her most angelic expression, and said: 'This is all a lie,
except in one particular. I committed a single wrong when I was a mere
child, and that was the reason why I refused to become your wife. Do
now as you like; you know what you take when you take me.'

"This confession, which she made with her irresistible melodramatic
voice, blinded me completely; and I was more convinced than ever that
all the rest of the talk about her deceitfulness and coquetry, and her
heartless flirting with foolish young admirers, was a lie. 'No,' I
cried, folding her in my arms, 'you shall not find yourself
disappointed in me, you shall not find a narrow-minded Philistine, when
you thought you were giving yourself up to a free artist's soul. What
lies behind you shall cast no shadow over our future. If it is true
that you love me, why then--' and here I quoted, slightly changing it
to suit the occasion, a verse of poetry that I had read but a short
time before and had thought very profound. 'Was _I_ a saint before I
asked